Designboost 07

07 SHARING DESIGN KNOWLEDGE

07

SHARING DESIGN KNOWLEDGE

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to be dedicated innovation a nd M책rten Claesson - designer and architect

sibility

to improvement, perfection

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Transparency story:

The citizen consumer now wants to know,

’Where has this product come from, what is it doing to me now and where is it going to?’

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This changes everything going forward

Jody Turner - creating future culture/empowering consumer citizen

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The mission of designboost

reating a platform where people can meet, discuss and challenge the meaning of design, through workshops, talks, exhibitions and other media

Design is probably the most

underrated improve factor of all when trying to

sales of traditional products.

Jan Wifstrand - journalist

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Sharing knowle The vision of designboost

Design in a sustainable society

Designboost is a fusion of the two words design and boost.

Design can help us create a better world. Inspiration, injection or more power – that is the meaning of boost.

If you put the two together you will get a Designboost.

The vision behind Designboost is to create a platform that gathers people, companies, organisations, institutions and schools that all work with design, in one way or another, on an international level.

We refer to it as – Sharing Design Knowledge.

The first main event, Designboost 07 took place 17–19 October 2007 in Malmö, Sweden and consisted of three different parts; – boost chats (formerly known as workshops), – boost talks (formerly known as lectures) – boost show (formerly known as exhibition).

The overall theme for Designboost 07 was sustainable design, an issue that is as pressing as it is difficult to pinpoint. When it comes to sustainable design it’s likely that things need to be questioned. It’s important to look upon things from a new perspective.

Since the world is constantly changing and the maps rewritten. it’s impossible to sit around and wait.

We can shape our world and create a more sustainable future with the help of design.

We can also use it to make tomorrow’s society. By focusing on design as a mean of competition companies will also be given a chance to create a sustainable world.

During Designboost 07 the participants and audience got a chance to ponder, question, reflect, be worried and pleased about what design really is all about and how it should be handled and used to give people a better life in a more resilient society.

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SAVING THE PLANET IN STYLE There is no choice. With small and big steps we all have to work toward a sustainable future. Designers are the link between producer and consumers; this means that they have the possibility to influence how social, environmental and economic aspects are integrated in the design, production, marketing and use of a product or service. In a longer perspective good design solutions can contribute to a sustainable development.

SAVING THE PLANET IN STYLE is a campaign initiated by O2 Nordic and led by the Swedish Design Assosiation. The aim of the campaign is to create meetings and collaborations between individuals, companies and organisations working within sustainble design. So far participants iclude: O2 Nordic, Svensk Form, SVID, Forum for Design and Sustainable Enterprise, Sveriges Designer, Interaktiva institutet, Lunds Tekniska Högskola, Naturskyddsföreningen, Naturvårdsverket, Svanen, Naturliga Steget, Design med omtanke, Konstfack, Nutek etc.

The campaign Saving the Planet In Style aims to encourage a positive engagement, for the planet, the people and prosperity. We have seen that the knowledge and wish for change has increased

among consumers as it has in the design field.

It is now up to the industry and the producers to take care of the potential and create sustainable solutions, this way increasing their international competitiveness. Design competence is a great tool for this.

FIRST STEP- inspiration As a first step inspiring international and Swedish designers working in sustainable design are invited to give talks to the Swedish audience. They are invited to inspire change, renewing and debate.

SECOND AND THIRD STEP – production and presentation As the campaign rolls out we plan to include work from many different areas. There will be exhibitions at several museums and competitions, a website and many other projects directed toward the design community, business and the public.

At the core of Saving the Planet In Style is the idea that if we work together we get so much more done.

So feel welcome to submit your ideas or just get inspired!

Kerstin Sylwan and Ewa Kumlin

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The design process is an effective tool for change and designers are the link between manufacturers and consumers.

They can influence how social, environmental and economic criteria are integrated into a product’s design, manufacture, marketing and communication.

Ewa Kumlin - managing director/Svensk Form

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design has past, the rest of design Sustainable present, and future;

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Brent Richards - creative thinking/Futurescaping

Sustainable: a product or ser vice you only need to purchase once, and

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last for a liftime or more.

Example: BRIO wooden railway.

Claes von Hauswolf - brand and design director/Brio

New paradigms for fashion Expanding our visions of sustainable futures and design In this text I would like to address what is often perceived as a dichotomy: fashion and sustainability. Exploring this seeming conundrum is relevant, not only in terms of the specific field of fashion, but also beyond. Fashion epitomises tendencies in society, not least our bulimic relationship to objects in general, but also the joy that we draw from a producer and consumer society, and the meaning we derive from communicating through everyday artefacts.

When I started conducting research on fashion and sustainability some seven years ago, I did see them as opposites. Now, however, I am convinced that we need to think in terms of integration.

The fashion lifecycle Let us first zoom in on some environmental issues associated with fashion. We know that there is environmental degradation resulting from all the fashion product’s lifecycle stages. Best known are the effects associated with production; intense energy and water use, pollution to air and water.

Aspects of fashion miles are also increasingly well known, the energy cost of the transportation of a T-shirt may be higher than its total energy cost in production. Less well known are the effects in the

user stages. Here 85% of a product’s total energy cost might be spent, because we use the washing machine as a kind of second wardrobe. (Fletcher, 1999, after Franklin Associates, 1993) “80% of the environmental impact of today’s products, services, and infrastructures is determined at the design stage.” (John Thackara, 2005) Of even more importance in this context, is the huge potential of efforts employed already at the conceptualisation and design stages. Proactive initiatives here are much more powerful than remedial cleaning up further along the line. This is an area that currently legislation does not target. Yet, here is where the particular creativity of design can be tremendously useful if harnessed.

Systems thinking Today the production stage is where the focus of legislation and other driving forces is placed. In compliance, companies are seeking to limit water usage, emissions, and they are also increasingly being more proactive and for example specifying organic rather than conventionally grown cotton.

This is a great development, but it does not sufficiently address the scale and speed of fashion.

Fashion is big business, the scale – one company alone can handle over half a billion goods per year – is massive. Similarly the speed of fashion is astounding, shops are changing ranges every week, and many garments spend a very limited active time in their wearers’ lives.

We need to change the paradigm in our mind “Diddling with details, arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” (Meadows, 1997) The words of systems thinker and environmentalist Donella Meadows drastically highlight the need to engage with change at a systemic level. We need to rethink the very paradigms of design and fashion and expand our visions beyond product level solutions. In order to do this, we need to get under the skin of fashion, and sustainability, and refute some myths and stereotypes that constitute barriers to positive change.

For example, the dichotomies below are often raised in the context of fashion and sustainability.

They portray an oxymoron, two parallel and irreconcilable universes, but are they true?

Fashion Fast Sexy (Deliciously) bad Superficial Risky Innovative Lucrative Egocentric

Sustainability Slow Boring (Goody) good Serious Safe Reactionary Costly Altruistic

Table1: Fashion and sustainability dichotomy – operation and values

Other deeply rooted myths are that: • Natural materials are always environmentally superior to man-made fibres; • Environmentally friendlier fashion is by necessity more costly than ‘normal’ fashion; • Environmentally friendlier fashion has a ‘knit-yourown-muesli’ type of look; • Material durability is the best strategy to make products more sustainable.

I would like to focus on the last of these myths here, and draw attention to the difference between fashion and clothing. Although they sometimes coincide, fashion is different from clothing. Fashion operates primarily on a symbolic level; simply put we do not disregard fashion because a garment is thread-bare but because it no longer communicates what we want it to communicate. It has lost its precious link to time and space. Literature on the environmental aspects of fashion focuses almost exclusively on the material side. For example, durability is still the favoured strategy, although we know that many fashion items in reality are only used for a very short while. There is not much point in making a product last for decades if it is to be discarded in a month’s time and ends up in landfill.

What if we, as designers, used our interest in the future and our creativity for both fashion and sustainability?

Might we not come up with solutions that both honoured the tantalising ways of communicating

”

Design that takes as a starting point, that respects, supports and inspires good and sound relationships between people, and between humans and nature” that fashion offers and respected the environment and the people involved in the production of our clothes?

In the lifetimes project, a colleague and I sought to do just that. (Fletcher and Tham, 2004, www. lifetimes.info) We looked at users’ real interaction with their fashion, at both experiential and lifecycle data levels. We engaged with the whole system of fashion, and questioned issues such as notions of ownership and hygien. Most importantly, we acknowledged the difference between clothes and fashion. This led us to an exploration of appropriate lifetimes and a diverse set of strategies for more sustainable fashion. We realised that the strategies for achieving more sustainable clothing and fashion must be as diverse as our engagement with what we wear.

Lifetimes scenario The findings were channelled into four futures scenarios from slow to fast fashion for the fashion industry’s mass-market segment. The fastest scenario targets the party top. We found that most users had experienced a late Friday afternoon in the shops, frantically looking for something to wear.

Finally a top is purchased, worn for one or two nights out, and then spent it sits as a bad conscience at the very back of the wardrobe.

The scenario Rent-a-top proposes a subscription service where the user, having signed up and been given a card, visits a shop, takes out a top, has fun with it for a night or two, takes it back, unwashed, and is given a new fashion item. The environmental benefit is that all clothes can be bulk washed, saving energy, and that there is less material in circulation to fulfil the same needs. The company makes a profit on fewer garments as they provide a service rather than a product. The user can enjoy fast, changeable fashion with a good conscience.

Experiencing sustainability Finally, the triple bottom line – ethics, environment and economy, is a commonly used model to communicate a sustainable framework of business.

I argue that something significant has been left out; the model needs to be fourfold and include the experiential. The user experience is central to all design work. By providing a good experience to an end-user a design company secures profit for its shareholders. Now, to gather momentum for the most important of causes -the sustainable imperative - we must devote all our efforts, our vision and creativity, to ensure that the experience of sustainability is magical.

Mathilda Tham - Guest professor in Fashion/Beckmans Designhögskola, Lecturer in Eco-design/Goldsmiths College

Boost chats 17th October

The first day of Designboost, specially invited participants were given the opportunity to take part in Boost chats (formerly known as workshops) with interesting questions at issue. The Boost chats took place at floor 53 and 54 in Turning Torso, the Malmö landmark designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Some of the topics;

Among the participants were people from carefully selected companies that are all influential in the design field as well as specially chosen ”boosters” with unique competence in their certain fields.

The ”boosters” group contained everything from designers, future scientists and brand strategists to creative thinkers, architects and material experts.

They came from all over the world; Malaysia, India, US, Great Britain, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden to mention a few countries. In addition to this students and professors from leading Nordic design schools were invited as well.

– How can companies in general use sustainable design in a much better way as a competitive advantage?

The Boost chats can be regarded as internal meetings in an external form. A closed circle, open to the participants. Every participant were given the opportunity to to discuss, vent, ponder, think and reflect over a number of questions that concerns design of the future.

We believe in knowledge exchange and the concept to let people with different cultural background and skills interact together gave interesting intellectual discussions on the different themes. All in all 29 Boost chats took place which were unique concerning theme and participants.

– How can we extend the definition of sustainable design beyond products and materials, i.e. how do we innovate in the social realm to sustain each other, relationships, social networks, our world?

– How can money be reshuffled from unsustainable advertising to sustainable design?

– Our consumption of electronic goods is chasing of. A mobile phone has a life-span shorter than a year. How can we, without being retrogressive, create long lasting consumer electronics?

– We throw away products without a second thought even when they are still functioning. How can we best create affection and attachment to a product and create “love” objects that lasts a lifetime?

– How can we reclaim time and balance work/life to be able to make conscious choices?

– How can topics of sustainable design attract a younger generation.

Boosters 2007

Kristina Dryza, Satyendra Pakhale, Stephen Burks, Jennifer Leonard, Mårten Claesson, Jody Turner, Christel Vaenerberg, Thomas Sandell, Katarina Graffman, Tim Power, Brent Richards, Sean Pillot de Chenecey, Nina Jobs, Thomas Lykke, Björn Jeffery, Mårten Knutsson, Kristina Börjesson, Oliver Ike, Olof Kolte, Ida Hult, Jonas Bylund, Olivier Rohrbach, Jens Martin Skibsted, Jonas Pinzke, Jens Pamp, Marcus Wendin, John-Michael Ekeblad, Ann Wåhlström, Jan Wifstrand, Agneta Hahne, Joakim Norén, Nick McLean, Sanna Sevika Hansson, Anders Breitholtz, Louise Hederström, Christina Cheng, Pernilla Jansson, Mathilda Tham, Maxjenny Forslund, Claes Foxerus, Claes von Hauswolf, Charlotte Sörensen, Jan Åman, Per Key Björcke, Kevin Low, Kajsa Bengtsson, Peter Andersson, Marcus Bergman, Ewa Kumlin, Mats Theselius, Kerstin Sylwan, Stefan Fallgren, Kristina Sahlqvist, Christina Elwing, Jonas Magnusson, Dori Gislason, Steuart Padwick, Anders Stedtzon, Claes Frössén, Anders Emilsson, Anthony Forsyth, Åsa Harvard, Seth Carnes, Anders Ljungmark, Frederik Andersen, Philipp Gullberg, Per Anders Hillgren, Anna Palleschitz, Micke Svedemar, Kristina Törnblom, Johan Berhin, Kigge Hvid, Ulrika Lövdahl, Peter Bech, Linn Eklund, Anders Jauring, Johanna Boäng, Anton Breman, Marona Grundén, Runa Klock, Daniel Hjort, Gudmundur Oddur Magnusson and Valeria Orozoco.

Boost chats at

Turning Torso

Boost talks 18th October

Day two of Designboost was all about boost talks (formerly known as lectures...). They took place at Europaporten conference center in Malmö (with nice architecture by Sten Samuelsson). Twenty five invited boosters gave interesting talks on the 2007 main theme “sustainable design”. There were everything from designers, architects and professors to futurists and ethnographers on stage.

Satyendra Pakhale told us that consumers should be seen as individuals. Stephen Burks showed his new video from Peru and his work with integrating local craftmanship with international distribution. Kristina Börjesson talked about the important mechanism behind affection leading to attachment (and long time relationship between owner and product). Kristina Dryza talked about how to use culture, traditions and beauty of a homeland as attributes for sustainable design. The founder of the urban transportation brand Biomega, Jens Martin Skibsted, presented how he is trying to transform urban commuting from (dirty) cars to cool clean iconic bikes. Katarina Graffman and Ida Hult of Trendethnography read upon how to help designers to create landscapes of possibilities for social life, not products for users. The conclusions that where drawn on the Boost chats the previous day popped up here and there in the different talks.

In all, the boost chats turned inside out of the concept of sustainable design and gave it an challenging and extended meaning.

Below is a list of all boosters on stage during the Boost talks day: Satyendra Pakhale – www.satyendra-pakhale.com International designer based in Amsterdam describing himself as a “Cultural Nomad”. He conveys a message that could be defined “universal” through his designs and ranks him among the most influential designers at work today. Recently he has been invited to art-direct and head the Master Programme in Design for Humanity and Sustainable Living at Design Academy Eindhoven.

Jennifer Leonard – www.renegademedia.info Jennifer Leonard is a design researcher and writer at IDEO, in Palo Alto, California. Jennifer co-authored Massive Change, a book about the future of global design. She has spoken at design conferences around the world and is a graduate of the inaugural year of the Institute without Boundaries, a design think-tank that once-upon-a-time lived inside the Bruce Mau Design studio in Toronto.

Mårten Claesson – www.claesson-koivisto-rune.se Mårten Claesson is one of the designers and architects of Claesson Koivisto Rune. They have been working with everything from interiors, culture house in Japan to products and furniture design.

Their assigners include Asplund, Offecct, Boffi and Cappellini. Mårten Claesson is a regular lecturer and has spoken all around the world.

Kristina Dryza – www.kristinadryza.com Kristina Dryza is a trend forecaster whose exposure to global consumer trends and cultural knowledge leads her to bring the experiential and forward looking aspects of design to the projects. She recently started KRLT studio, a conceptual design studio based in Vilnius, Lithuania. The first products from the studio is a luxury fashion collection based on the regional heritage.

Brent Richards – www.csm.arts.ac.uk/csm_design_laboratory.htm Former dean of Central Saint Martins college of art and design. Founder of Design Laboratory which is a creative bridge between education and the commercial agenda of industry, consultancy and business.

Projects are in key areas such as branding & communications, product design, interiors and trend forecasting, or any combination of these.

Sean Pillot de Chenecey – www.captaincrikey.com/ Sean Pillot de Chenecey works with research and brand development. He injects vitality and creativity into consumer insight and brand positioning. Before starting the company Sean spent ten years with cutting-edge agencies. He is often quoted on brand/consumer issues by the media and writes for a range of business and consumer publications.

Jody Turner – www.cultureoffuture.com/ Culture of Future provides visually flavorful conversation, inspirational POV and leading edge trend language encompassing tech to retail, generations to culture and design to sustainability. Founder and CEO, Jody Turner, is a “Trend Hunter” or “Meaning Hunter” and travels globally to present ideas on the future of culture and design.

Stephen Burks – www.readymadeprojects.com Stephen Burks is one of the most successful designers in his generation. He is working with everything from shop interiors and packaging to to furniture and home accessories. One of his latest projects was the design of the bottle for the new Calvin Klein perfume CK IN2U. Mathilda Tham – www.beckmans.se The work of Mathilda Tham includes trend forecasting, fashion and sustainable issues. Mathilda has also been working with design, pr and marketing. Mathilda works as professor at Beckmans college of design in Stockholm and teaches about eco-design at Goldsmith college in England.

Katarina Graffman/Ida Hult – www.trendethnography.com Katarina Graffman and Ida Hult work as an ethnographers. Their tools are simple but the practice is complex. It consists of digging for something with unknown shape, colour and size. The research take place wherever, whenever as reality is her lab. The experiments are conducted in cars, homes, stores, workplaces and parks.

Kristina Börejsson – www.csm.arts.ac.uk Kristina has for most part of her professional life as a projects manager and managing director worked for an altered attitude to marketing. Kristina lives since 1996 in London and has written a Master thesis on designers as the link between culture and meaning as also a PhD thesis on the affective sustainability of objects.

Jens Martin Skibsted – www.skibstedid.com Through is company Skibsted Ideation Jens Martin Skibsted develops innovative products that are brand carriers, drive numbers and massively boost PR. He applies the thinking of branding, fashion and music to the world of industrial design. Jens Martin Skibsted is the founder of Biomega - the luxury urban mobility brand.

Nina Jobs – www.ninajobs.se Nina Jobs is an internationally recognized and awarded designer. With a background as graphic designer she holds a master degree in product-design from ENSAD-Paris. Her designs includes works within products, furniture and textile design. In 2001-2005, Nina Jobs also assigned to promote Swedish design in Asia on the behalf of the Swedish government. Nina also make speeches world wide.

John-Michael Ekeblad – www.daytimeprojects.com John-Michael Ekeblad runs Daytime Projects Inc which is a strategic design consultancy based in New York City that creates magic out of rationality. John-Michael’s philosophy is about convergence of design culture with deep consumerism and artistic movement that creates a platform of Commercial Aesthetics.

Björn Jeffery – www.goodold.se Björn Jeffery works as CEO and Internet Strategist at the Swedish communication agency Good Old. As co-founder of the company, his main focus is the implementation of current and future web trends to large publishing houses. Björn is also the founder of two of Swedens largest blogs, Discobelle.net and Manolo.se.

Thomas Sandell – www.sandellsandberg.se/ Thomas Sandell is one of the most acknowledged designer and archictect in Sweden. Thomas has received several Swedish and international design awards. His assigners include Cappellini, B&B Italia and Asplund to mention a few. His recent work with the proposal of a new ”Kallbadhus” in Riddarfjärden has caused a lot of debate.

Olof Kolte – www.olofkoltedesign.com/ Civil Engineer KTH, Stockholm 1990, Master of Art RCA, London 1998, has worked as Civil Engineer in France, Mexico, and Latvia, own design practice in London 1998-2000 and in Malmö, Sweden since 2000, part time lecturer at Industrial Design LTH since 2001 Tim Power – www.tim-power.com/ Tim Power, architect and designer based in Milan. For the past decade the office of Tim Power has worked on a variety of projects including furniture, lighting, interiors and architecture for a large international client base. Recently, with the participation of Slow Food and Boffi, he has conducted a program at the I.E.D. on researching and designing self sufficient kitchen units.

Kevin Low – www.small-projects.com/ Kevin Low runs smallprojects which is a company that conceptualizes, designs and builds things; primarily architecture and utility design. Kevin studied closely with the Aga Khan Foundation and over various periods, has been professionally involved in writing, environmental sculpture, illustration, teaching and copyrighting.

Oliver Ike – www.ikebranco.ch/ Oliver Ike founded Ikepod Watch company in 1986 and worked as its CEO until 2003. Today manager and contributing writer of Ikebranco productions, a company operating in the field of interior and architecture photography and publishing. He has various consulting mandates in the watch business and as well new projects in the pipeline in the field of watches.

Jonas Bylund – www.syntes-studio.com Jonas Bylund is the co-founder and Creative Director of Syntes Studio, a product design and branding agency based in Stockholm. Syntes Studios work spans from strategy, product design, packaging and graphic design and the client list include British mobile communications leader O2, H&M, L’oreal and Estee Lauder. He is regularly lecturing at various conferences around the world.

Ewa Kumlin + Kerstin Sylwan – www.svenskform.se/, www.kerstinsylwan.se/ Ewa Kumlin is managing director at Svensk Form which is missioned by the Governement to promote Swedish Design in Sweden and abroad and to run the official meeting place for design in Sweden. Kerstin Sylwan works as a designer with a deep interest for sustainable development. She is also co-founder of the project “Saving the planet in style”.

Boost talks at

Europaporten

Boost show 19th October

The Boost show (formerly known as exhibition) took place in a former cinema at Fridhemstorget in Malmö. It reflected on how we, with design, can create a sustainable future.

The Sustainable Wheel was the foundation for Designboost 07 and the Boost show was arranged as a visualisation of the seven “spokes” of this imaginary wheel. Normally when you talk about sustainable design, environmental issues are quite often the main ingredient. At the Boost show a more open-minded definition was delivered.

On display were different projects that are good examples of sustainable design according to our thesis of a holistic view on the subject. All projects were presented both with a product and a written description of the strategy behind it.

Filmed interviews with Eero Koivisto, Tom Dixon, Satyendra Pakhale, Stephen Burks and Tejo Remy were also displayed in the show. They gave a greater insight of the visions behind certain products and strategies.

In the Boost show projects were presented by: Alcro, Apple, Artechnica, Audi, Biomega, BRIO, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Electrolux, GodEl, HC Ericson, Iittala, Kristina Dryza/KR LT Studio, Mater, Råvara, Satyendra Pakhale, Spirit of Maya, Stephen Burks, Tejo Remy, TAF, Tom Dixon and more.

The Boost show at

Fridhemstorget

Dear all, We are now ready for the third part of the designboost: the boost show. David has kindly invited med to say a few words to officially inaugurate the show.

Designboost has been such a truly great and maningful event, although I couldn’t participate myself during the workshops, I heard many enthusiastic comments about the content and the mix of people. Of course yesterday, the boost talks.

So many the varied and thoughtprovoking speeches during the talks. And not to forget, all the informal but really important meetings in between the programs. It might sounds banal, but i really belive in the force by putting brilliant and creative people together like this, things can start to happen. I am sure it will.

We were given hundreds of definitions of sustainability and design, but we all seemed to agree that these words have no meaning without a content and a context. What was evident trhough the speeches was also the humanistic approach. It is all about people, about us. We as humans will continue to be ridden by passion and emotional choices, we will keep doing what we love.

And the new and young generations even more so.

It is about a longlasting quality of life, about timelessness.

Even realizing the urgency to save our planet, we have to avoid the scare and the fear, We also have to believe that our small steps can make a difference, and not be paralized by the huge complexity.

To try to see the large picture, and yet scale it down to something feasible for ourselves.

Now with this show, we will see some physical results of processes and products adressing the issue of sustainability from various angles. From an ecological as well as social and economic perspective. Designers are an important link between producers and consumers, and can therefore have a strong influence on the process.

Yesterday at dinner, we discussed how we could keep this strong engergy and inspiration with us from designboost– until next designboost. Should we make a general declaration or should we as individuals make a promise, silent or public of an action we should take towards a more sustainable future? We also discussed should the theme be for next designboost, until someone came up with the self evident answer: Of course, it has to be the same theme! Sustainable design.

So David and Peer, thank you again for this initiative, we hope you will keep this up, we need to meet again and again.

With these words, I hereby declare the boost show open.

Eva Kumlin managing director at Svensk Form and “Saving the planet in style”

There seems to be no escaping the fact that 100% sustainability in design and industry is a utopia.

Regardless of this, Design Boost is perhaps one of the first viable steps that seek to balance ‘high’ design with a sustainable future.

David Carlson and Peer Eriksson, the energetic duo behind Design Boost, are well aware that the road towards sustainability and authenticity in a throwaway plastic society is a difficult one, but they also are aware that without dreams and ideals advancement toward a more sustainable future is impossible.

The premier edition of Design Boost acknowledged that the path towards a sustainable society is perhaps as important and pleasurable as the attainment of a perfectly sustainable society – Design Boost is aware that for now, falling short of 100% ‘sustainability’ is a given, but that finding a successful balance between sustainability and other humanistic values may be the most valid direction possible for design to take.

Just over one month ago, I left Design Boost feeling charged and excited. Design Boost was a hands-on, feet-on-the-ground event, and I didn’t leave unrealistically thinking that I had been empowered to change the world overnight; I left with new energy and knowledge, with new friends, and with a humility knowing that perhaps what what I am presently doing is not enough.

In this past month since Design Boost, I have come to a conclusion: Design (as we now practice it) and Sustainability (as we now know it) are presently being channeled in incompatible directions.

We need a new Road Map. The direction(s) explored at Design Boost may be a good indicator of where we are presently going, and where design and sustainability will eventually meet. Presently Design is heading in two different directions:

Design (and Designers) whose primary agenda seems to be to create the landscape and cityscape as an ‘iconographic park’. This tendency in design is all about creating objects that are seemingly bigger and better than life itself. Fortunately, there are some extremely talented designers working in these terms, providing examples of extreme beauty and richness. On the whole however, this tendency of ‘icon based’ design is creating loads of visual and environmental garbage.

So called Green Design, very often humble, and unfortunately, very often unattractive. Green Design currently is focusing on materials and often does not take into consideration a holistic approach Perhaps most interesting is in examples of design which serve parallel agendas. These examples combine the expressive nature of form and beauty, exquisite craft, quality, simplicity and an intelligent use of resources.

The strength of Design Boost was in its

ability to balance the disparate agendas of ‘high design’ and ‘green design’ without shame and without excuses. A similar balance in high quality cuisine, food production, ethics and authenticity was struck by the Slow Food movement some twenty years ago.

The Slow Food movement started as a revolt against the throw-away culture of fast food, an alarmingly aggressive culture which denied local traditions and craft, biodiversity, non processed materials, timeless pleasures of quality, and conviviality. It started with a focus on authenticity and has since grown into a political manifesto which englobes the entire cycle of food production and consumption, and thus life itself. These in fact were the very issues that were discussed in Design Boost 2007: the beauty of objects and the function of artifacts, the production cycle of objects and buildings, the systems of communication, transportation, material usage, product life cycle, quality of experience, authenticity, etc.

Interestingly enough Design Boost succeeded where other ‘Green’ manifestos have perhaps fallen short. Not wanting to be dogmatic, Design Boost discussed the necessity of design of creating sublime experiences to better our artifacts and built environment.

In a recent seminar I conducted with Cinzia Scafidi of the Slow Food Research and Didactic

Center, alongside the ‘political manifesto, we also discussed ‘sublime aesthetics’ and ‘sex appeal’, elements necessary to sustain the reproductive cycle of life itself. So can beauty and sustainability be integrated? Ettore Sottsass often said that only beauty can save human existence.

Nature apparently created beauty in order to survive. So in the midst of hard core discourse on ‘sustainability’, discourse on the disasters facing our environment, reflections on the huge carbon footprint we leave behind us, it was refreshing to have some ‘pop culture strutting’, some ‘sexy’ projects, and lots of general optimism.

Design Boost balanced discussions on the social utopia of early modernism, ’clever’ design of recent decades, and contemporary proposals regarding natural resources and environmental concerns – a balance necessary to produce a ‘Slow’ Design Culture.

Design Boost 2007 didn’t in fact set out to resolve once and for all what Sustainable Design is: It instead set out to create a road map for design: as it will surely be a pleasurable ride, the Design Boost map will help us with the numerous bumps that the road will surely present to us around every new turn.

Tim Power - architect

The Sustainable Wheel It’s not an exaggeration that environmental issues often are the main ingredient in the sustainable design debate. Designboost has developed a method to create and define sustainable design in a more profound and holistic manner. The method is called the Sustainable Wheel. During 2008 the Sustainable Wheel will also be presented as a sustainable design label.

The Sustainable Wheel consists of the following seven themes: -Environmental influence -Innovation -Emotional connection -Aesthetics -Quality -Authenticity -Compatibility

The themes may be seen as “spokes of a wheel of sustainability”. It means that this imaginary wheel is not stronger than its weakest spoke. A product/ service/city etc could be defined as sustainable first when it consider all ingredients of the Sustainable Wheel. In the end, a product is nothing worth not favouring a human context. We always have to extend sustainability beyond materials. We have to remember to always look through the lens of humanity when we are trying to define a sustainable product.

The themes of the Sustainable Wheel were used as a basis for discussion during the Designboost 07 event. They were also visualized in the exhibition in filmed interviews and products on display.

The seven themes: 1. Environmental influence “to have an aspiration to affect the environment as little as possible” Environment is a concept that has been reported massively during the past few years. Is it “environmentally friendly” to drive an ethanol car when we know the problems of the ethanol production? Or are we often just loading problems onto other, less obvious and exposed areas? Perhaps in the end the amount we pay ends up on the same bill?

The same thing goes for buying organic food that has been transported from the other side of the globe.

To the extent that everything is already invented it’s the ability to see that before us in new ways that is a strength of innovators.

It’s important to see the whole picture, not just the romantic notion of being eco. Stella McCartney would say about being a vegetarian at the same time as she wears leather shoes; “ I think doing anything is better than nothing”.

Products are, in the end, the result of human actions and therefore an extension of humans.

That’s why we mustn’t forget the importance of social innovation...

An important part of the environmental ethos is that products and services be produced with a minimum of energy consumption and also consume as little energy as possible during their lifetime. In total, environmental influence is about a responsible use of resources, a sustainable product is always beneficial to both society and environment.

2. Innovation “to develop unique attributes on several levels” If we are aiming for a decent sustainable future, we must invest in scientific research and innovation. Only through constant evolution can we create more sustainable design and, consequently, a more durable society. Focus should be on creating new functions that improve our lives. If we can increase the level of innovation in each developed product, we will increase the pace at which we’re going towards the sustainable future.

Innovation is about seeing things in different ways, thinking out of the box, thinking for renewal and change, removing blinders, boldly processing new and old information.

3. Emotional connection “to be part of the user” Emotional connectivity is a parameter which often falls short in a mechanical and technical friendly culture. It’s rather strange when designs must be sensorial engaging for commercial success.

A clear identity can create an emotional connection for a product. Both from a social and psychological point of view, identity is the core, the material physical objects “really don’t exist”.

What meaning have: recycling, durable materials, environmentally friendly production and use, if the consumers don’t discover, understand and care for the product, i.e., they are disregarded while still functioning? What makes us want to keep certain objects while we throw away others without thinking? Is there an important parameter that ties us to an object? Could it be that we have greater affection for a product which we have saved up to and longed for compared to a wear and tear product we have no relation to at all? It’s important to create a lifelong love and not just a brief fling with product design...

4. Aesthetics “to age with grace” Aesthetics is personal. It has it’s given definition but at the same time it is subjective and a personal question about what is good or bad.

A product can create a craving for different reasons, where aesthetics is one of the most common.

Aesthetics is important when it comes to most forms of design, such as furniture, architecture, fashion, products and typography. Aesthetics is however dependant on culture, seeing that in some cultures is it everything and in others, it is much less important. In Sweden cars are built to survive a crash, big, safe and functional (SAAB and Volvo were for a long time world leading in safety for personal cars). In Italy they build cars that are not meant to crash. Small, elegant and hot tempered. See the difference in vision and expression. One is not better than the other since there are other parameters involved, but it is without doubt a fundamental difference in thought and innovation.

It is our belief that timelessness is a strong and important aesthetic value. The Seven and Ant chairs

by Arne Jacobsen are great examples of timeless, iconic products. Classics that survives year after year, are inherited by the generations to come and excellent examples of truly durable products.

5. Quality

One can buy a sofa for a 300 EUR and throw it out after three years, or one for 3000 EUR and keep it for thirty years. Which is more cost-effective in the long run, both for you and society? It all comes down to quality, timeless design and a sustainable economic as well as ecological way of thinking. On the other hand it is not unreasonable to challenge the need to make sofas that last for thirty years when the buyer may get tired of it after five. Is it a waste of resource to deliver too high quality? It’s unfortunately a relevant question in our mass-consumption world.

The Swedish architect Thomas Sandell links quality in a great way with his Designboost one-liner quote “quality is always sustainable”.

6. Authenticity “to be able to tell a credible story” Authenticity is both a necessary and desirable attribute. Authenticity is, among other things, origin, quality and identity. Authenticity is to perfectly perform a service or to produce a perfect product.

Or to produce a product/service that is not perfect, but with which the individual executing it has done his very best, despite, or thanks to, lack of resource/knowledge.

Authenticity is both subjective and objective. This means both the history as well as the ability to tell it is of uttermost importance; storytelling, soul and/or cultural inheritance are tactic models to use.

“to own multi-quality capacities” With quality we mean durability and function as well as consumer value. Quality is at the same time an environmental responsibility to consider for the long term. The Gucci family slogan refers quite well to the topic: “Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten”.

We believe a product won’t be ““durable” unless it tells a credible story. We live in a materialistic society which often lacks spirituality. People like storytelling, it’s a part of human history. As soon as something has a story, it becomes important. It gets a soul. And if it’s important it will be durable!

7. Compatibility “to be part of a bigger coherence” Compatibility in it’s fundamental role is to get people to interact. Without communication nothing works and both the future and innovation becomes sterile utopias. Humans are social creatures that want and need to belong to a social group in order to function. In this process compatibility is the key, all communicators (groups/individuals) must be compatible to understand each other and hence reach their goal.

This human compatibility is analogue with many different techniques (MP3, IR, video, CD, DVD, Bluray, TV, HDTV etc...) that producers try to convince the market to adopt. All producers want a monopoly, but a regard for compatibility would grant a sustainable development outcome. All involved will gain off of it if the product/service becomes standard.

The companies will find new and better means of competition, it’s the core of evolution. Bluetooth is a good example of collaboration that supports and generates more, that is sustainable development/ design.

Just as when we talk about emotional connectivity, compatibility is also about creating far-sightedness and long lasting desirability. And last but not least, supporting human to human relationships.

ReSimplified Life + ReEngineered Imagination = Sustainability

John-Michael Ekeblad - design strategy

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Kristina Börjesson – PhD, Research Associate /Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

To aim at the affectively sustainable is to look for the hidden obvious in an object.

The limits of rational thinking?

Most designers share at least one vision: to contribute to real development rather than to design merely another. My vision as a researcher is to provide designers with new or newly combined knowledge, which have a chance to facilitate their mission.

Knowledge, in my meaning of the term, is also consciousness: to put in doubt and rethink as also to look beyond the rational, to see the potential of the irrational.

Irrational problems have been the subject of much analysis. In 1973 Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber wrote a landmark article where they discussed the existence of a set of problems [of social policy] that cannot be resolved with traditional analytical approaches. They labelled such problems “Wicked Problems”. Are irrational problems in general “wicked”? If this is the case, there are according to Rittel and Webber no solutions to these problems ‘in the sense of definitive and objective answers’. (p. 155) They are unsolvable.

I oppose this logic as also the overall focus on ‘problems’, which risk blurring the route to development: new ways of thinking, a change of direction of thought. Importantly, development goes further than innovation. I refuse, however, to call this type of thinking ‘a new rationality’. This expression, though often heard, risks in fact conserving rationality as the one way to think: to replace one kind of rationality with another. Given a ‘softened’ name, this reasoning can be referred to as making a difference when in fact it does not.

It is in this context the construct of ‘affective sustainability’ has to be analysed, as it immediately might appear to have connotations to something irrational. Many measures in the direction of sustai-

nable development are halted or rendered difficult due to what are considered to be irrational causes (wicked?). Knowing that many, if not the majority, of the choices we make through life are irrational, based on feelings, the struggle for what is aimed at sustainability becomes evident as does the term itself. Sustaining for the sake of it has no sense.

Research on the affective, attachment and sustainability is in its early stages. What has already become evident is that existing objects can be found again and new designs may have a chance of a longer life, if time, tradition, aesthetic and perception are rethought in the context of human ways of being rather on their ways of living.

Rationality is one important tool in designing but not the only tool. In the tension between rationality and intuition the latter must increasingly be valued as a competence based on lived experience, not merely a spiritual thought. Rationality has given us the simple object, but not simplification. Simplification is not solely a measure concerning physicality.

It takes into consideration the affect an object evokes: this must be positive, easily de-coded and stored and allow us to interact with the object without friction: “… the augmentation or diminution of a body’s capacity to act, to engage, and to connect, such that auto-affection is linked to the self-feeling of being alive – that is aliveness or vitality.”

My wish is to further engage in research that adds to designers’ understanding of what augments these capacities of the body. It is my belief that these affective qualities [of objects] are reasonably obvious, though immediately hidden, and when found they show the way to simplification.

Kristina Börjesson - PhD, Research Associate/Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Rittel H. & Webber M. (1973) Dilemmas in General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences. No 4, pp 155-169.

Damasio, A. (1994) Descartes’ Error. Revised ed. London: Vintage Bastick, T (2003) Intuition. Evaluating the Construct and its Impact on Creative Thinking. Kingston, Jamaica: Stoneman & Lang.

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In a world which sees so many complex problems, we frequently jump to conclusions as a mean to show determination and action: to do something, to find solutions.

It is important to avoid doing these mistakes, to realise that complex problems requires thorough analyses, which may start with hearing as many voices as possible. This was exactly Designboost: voices on sustainability, all representing an array of knowledge, different experiences and a variety of cultures.

I hope that 2008 will bring another opportunity for voices to be heard under the Designboost umbrella.�

Kristina

Earth Everyday I recently (barely) watched the film Idiocracy, starring Luke Wilson. It was one of those late weeknights at home, with laptop in bed and lights low, so I didn’t get through it. I fell asleep before it really got going. And I have to say that I think it was a blessing in disguise. I nodded off shortly after a clip where Luke’s character (who was frozen by the military for a set number of years for some kooky cryogenic experiment) awoke disastrously past due to a world gone idiotic. It was a future where landfills over-stuffed skyscrapers, ER rooms were operated by buffoons who couldn’t differentiate one orifice from another, and belching slobs sat in Lazyboys watching TV shows like “Oh My Balls” on their in-home Jumbotrons.

My generous guess is that Idiocracy was intended to be a worst-case trajectory of American culture today; and certainly, a good reminder of the sort of tomorrow we don’t want for ourselves and the generations to come. Call me an idealist, but we do not want an Idiocracy. We want a Brilliantocracy. Or Enlightenedocracy. Or Awesomocracy. Whatever it’s called, the point is that we want the sort of today and tomorrow where eco-consciousness, emotional intelligence, and exuberant human creativity rule our days – not the day.

Comedian Jon Stewart, at the end of February,

announced on his Daily Show that “Black History month is now officially over.” And then, wryly, “But you do know, people, that black history continues, right?” Likewise, as I see it, Earth Day is an ongoing event. We want to toot Earth’s horn daily.

Which brings to mind our modern storytellers – the news media – which, on the whole, aren’t living up to this standard. The problem here is not that there are no stories to tell that lift us up and move us forward in a more sustainable way. There are! The problem is that these stories are not being reported broadly enough, often enough, and with sufficient gusto. (Worldchanging is one of a few exceptions to the rule, where storytelling of the non-idiotic, or “brilliant-enlightened-awesome”, variety is supported.) We need more powerful positive storytelling, each and every day. We also need more powerful story-making – I believe these dynamics are mutually supportive, and generative.

At the very least, we need a shift in what counts as “story worthy.”

This media makeover would facilitate what I’d propose to call Earth Everyday. The new face of media would be replete with stories that matter: stories that offer a deep sense of possibility and hope.

It’s not technological innovations and their capacities to solve problems that excite me most. It is the human stories that underlie them. It’s the human dance with life and how we take action on our imaginative urges. Rather than lauding the rich and famous, Earth Everyday’s story gathering focuses on the everyday people that make up its heartbeat.

Daily, stories come out about the people who in small and big ways are working in areas they’re passionate about in an effort to be all that they can be in the context of a mission that’s bigger than the individual self. By living up to what positively drives them, they are doing their part to make the world a better place. And their stories give readers and listeners and watchers hope.

These are the people we should give a damn about and brag about and give airtime to. These are Earth Everyday’s foot soldiers.

Enthused by their charge, Earth Everyday is a movement of movements where the internal and external fighting stops long enough for everyone -- even those who agree to disagree -- to recognize that without our planet Earth, there will be nothing to fight about, period. No urban space, no transportation, no energy grid, no data banks, no markets, no farms, no global relations. Regardless of one’s political or faith-based affiliation, we have

within us the potential as human beings to look around the Earth we share and appreciate the sky, the fields, the trees, the oceans -- the free assets it daily provides us with. We can all acknowledge the astonishing beauty in natural events like a blooming rose, a lightening storm, metamorphosis; and the irreplaceable value inherent in all these things.

The evolution of Earth Day into Earth Everyday goes hand in hand with our human evolution. We can choose to push it to a greener, richer, more luminous level as we, too, evolve as residents of Earth.

We are the DJs of the earth jams, so to speak – in the sense that “we are all designers” – and we are also in the mix. In the spirit of iteration, I’d like to build on past work I’ve done and offer up a new way of thinking about storytelling, below.

What would the impact be if categories of human explorations were seen not as “economies” – or systems of exchange – but ecologies, in which we played a rightful part? What if, in place of technological categorizations of human activities, we reflected on our lives through a social lens?

For instance, in the Massive Change project, the “urban economy” was about documenting a wave of new innovations in housing, shelter, and urban

space. It was about relaying the fact that sprawl and density are both true and that all space, per Rem Koolhaas’s inspiration, is now “city” and we must consider it as such. It was about green building technologies and manufactured housing materials. The urban ecology, however, is about the new urbanists – guerrilla gardeners and home gardeners and all those aspiring green thumbs out there taking baby steps to turn dead urban space into living, breathing, life-giving experiments.

It’s made up of people around the world who are changing their behaviors (and their light bulbs) to make less of an imprint on the path they trod.

The “movement economy” was about collecting evidence of congested highways and bi-ways from all corners of the globe, and showcasing innovative vehicles and transporters whose fuel source was alternative, renewable or entirely electric. The movement ecology is about the new mobilists, who are in transit in a diversity of ways. They’re moving and shaking in carpools and smart cars; on buses, trains, scooters, and skateboards. Collectively, they’re walking and biking their way to understanding new ways of moving, in relation to each other.

The “energy economy” was about trying to understand what was being developed at both small and large scales, so to technically respond to an impending crisis. It was about wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric and coal. It was a landscape of all activity in electrification. The new energy ecology is about the new energizers, the

champions of fresh air, blankets, wool socks and hand fans. They’re cognizant of turning the lights off, powering-down their PCs and switching over to CFLs. These folks are unafraid to use human power to get their motor runnin’. And they know that this is in no way about giving up what we’ve got. It’s about knowing there’s so much more that we can still do, with less.

The “information economy” was about information overload, grid computing and complex data mapping. The new information ecology is about the new informers, the courageous professional media and citizen reporters the world over; the witty observers of our ways, with a message; the poets, the artists, the real rock stars.

The “market economy” becomes an ecology of new marketers, who value holistic thinking over numbers and stats. The “manufacturing economy” becomes an ecology of new cyclers of life, who see the journey of a product through its lifespan and treasure first and foremost what we already have.

The list goes on, and the power here is in how we talk about what we do. There’s great force in phrasing: from technology to people; fro passive change to active change. It frames how we view what we do.

Earth Everyday, in the end, is less about describing a solid, stagnant state and more about setting up a vibrant set of sustainable conditions around which like-spirited people can align and get a move on.

”

What will endure is what is uniquely human” Jennifer Leonard - designer researcher and writer

Working with sustainable solutions is an

opportunity

to embrace local craftsmanship and new technology with a human and emotional approach.

Sustainable design is not about trend,

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but is here to stay – it’s inevitable Thomas Lykke - design and innovation development

Sustainable: something you never get tired of

Christina Elving - information director

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Sustainable Design How have we become so obsessed with consumerism, over indulgence producing extraordinary waste? Are we trying to buy our way towards contentment, happiness, satisfaction?

More and more people can afford stuff, and stuff will inevitably go on being produced at ever increasing levels.

Everything is affordable.

Has none of the 2000 year old wisdom filtered into our lives?

In the 320s BC the philosopher Epicurus believed the pursuit of pleasure was vital. After indulging in allsorts of pleasures, he ultimately led a fairly simple life.

He believed happiness did not come from excess or the acquisition of things – but probably the greatest route to happiness was friendships. It was not necessary to be rich, or extravagant.

He created a graph to show potential happiness over wealth. Though happiness did rise in relation to wealth, it quickly reached an optimum level (probably equating to a modest income), at which point, no matter how much more wealthy you became it did not affect your potential happiness.

There is a problem with our planet, and yes it is a natural consequence of our consumerist world, but we can do something about it. As a society we have just plucked our heads from the sand and acknowledged the problem. Like alcoholics, standing and saying I am an alcoholic - we can start to make a change.

The vast majority of people can now afford to buy a table, but its costing the earth.

As we began making things in batches, we sped up production, whilst maintaining quality.

Now ever increasing quantities of poorer and poorer products are being bashed out, giving the illusion of quality.

Crap.

In 1991, Gerald Ratner’s infamous comment, that one of his items of Jewellery was ‘total crap’, and another cheaper than a prawn sandwich, wiped £500 m off the value of his company.

People liked buying cheap products, fooling themselves they were good quality. Once officially labelled ‘crap’ they stopped buying them.

15 years later we don’t mind if the product or furniture is crap, because we can afford to replace it with the latest fashion. Is economy of scale fatal?

Has our growing superficiality been the very reason we value so little in our society today.

Is Life too cheap?

World Industrialisation.

We are already producing more than the planet can cope with and on the brink of world industrialisation.

YES. The beauty of sustainability, is we may start to value things again and from that; perhaps, each other and just maybe society will be better for it.

There are two ways to go forward.

1. Stop buying non essential things, denounce the car, go vegetarian and all start wearing some from of sackcloth – there are plenty of compelling arguments for that. or...

2. Accept that we will continue to manufacture, but simply do it better, and consume with a better understanding – we have to be pragmatic. In the west we like our comforts and it would be hard to tell everyone else that they cant have them too.

Can we justify buying a new chair, sofa or lamp if the old one still works?

Not necessarily NO, but we should at least think about it. We don’t fix things anymore.

In Cuba they repair everything from 50s cars to disposable lighters. In India they recycle lightbulb filaments. These come out of a need, not any moral stance, but we can learn from them.

Can we change?

We’ve dealt with moral issues before. Ivory is a beautiful material, with unique qualities, but became morally unacceptable – so we stopped using it. Likewise furs (but they seeped their way back onto the catwalk). We try to use sustainable timbers – when its convenient.

The issues are so huge and are potentially damaging us rather than a few thousand dumb elephants, furry animals or scarce trees, that we may finally take it more seriously. Our instinct for survival may finally kick in...

Can we regain that soul a product had?

Something we wanted to cherish?

Something we had to save up for?

I hope so.

Designers led the problem offering ever sexier products - with built in obsolescence. So Designers should be part of the solution.

Going back some time products were only made of

natural materials. You would go to your local carpenter, blacksmith or candlestick maker to make what you needed.

You understood the product; you knew where it came from. It had a story, a life you were familiar with – it had a soul.

Let’s just use natural materials.

There is no single or simple answer. It is very easy to say for example that all clothes should be made from cotton – but cotton is not much good at being recycled, it is full of dyes that are hard to get rid of and it is not a very friendly manufacturing process in the first place.

Wooden chopsticks use vast forests of timber and are disposable, plastic ones can last a thousand meals. Potentially plastics, have a fantastic lifespan are incredibly durable and can be recycled.

How do you see manufacturing and the consumer in 3 years 10 years from now?

Manufacturing in the UK over the last 20 years has plummeted. I believe it will begin to pick up again – but not to the levels it was. There will be a growing place for the smaller manufacturers but they will have to offer something more – there is no point trying to compete on price with China, but improve the service/quality. Keep the manufacturing cleaner, but be pragmatic after all you have to survive as a business.

Only the companies that change as a consequence of changing attitudes to sustainable manufacturing and other environmental issues will survive.

I see the future as very exciting, but it very much depends on design and ingenuity, and it will have to be a lot greener.

As Bertram Russell put it, most of us would rather die than think (and most do) But now we must think...

Steuart Padwick

Design that restrain consumption tend to be sustainable

– high quality

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and a long-term

thinking Johannes Norlander - designer and architect

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It should be a

long-term

commitment

Louise Hederström - designer

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for everyone

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Content

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Jan Åman - director/Färgfabriken

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and becomes rarely wrinkled!

Olivier Rohrbach - journalist and music designer

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Sustainable design comes from the heart!

I was thrilled to see and to hear how much human feelings, friendly easy-to-use products and ecology were on the top of many Designboost speeches. And, In contrary to many design fairs/meetings where you came back home with tons of business cards that you might never use anymore, I’ve meet brilliant people who says ”they don’t believe in business cards” and the few ones I’ve put in my Bottega Veneta’s card holder during those days are not flyers but the result of quality chats and similar interests. So I suggest to integrate ”suistanable business cards” as one of the 2008 topics and I’m looking forward to bring some notes about suistanable music and its digital revolution as MP3 might not be the latest LP but much more a transitory support...

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Sustainability will be one

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Jonas Bylund - designer

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Solutions

which meet the needs of today

without compromising the ability of

future generations to fulfill their own needs.

Christel Vaenerberg - product portfolio director/Iittala

Iittala A movement against throwawayism Iittala has always believed everyone has every right to expect design to last a lifetime. A radical thought in today’s high-speed consumer society, where most of the things we buy are made to be replaced.

It is a philosophy of lasting everyday design against throwawayism that drives the Iittala brand forward.

And we know there are people all over the world who agree with us.

Design insight and craftsmanship knowledge can shape a positive future for everyone, in all areas of design. By offering design that remains relevant no matter how times change, every individual is free to live their life without adding to the world’s mountains of useless things.

Christel Vaenerberg Design Director/Iittala

Everyday life is yours to design.

Iittala design objects are combinable, multi-purpose tools for everyday life. The entire Iittala collection is created with thought to help us design pleasurable, everyday moments that enable us to relax, recharge, share and simply live the lives we want to live.

By stripping the object back to its purest form, essential design lets the end user decide the use, so we can own fewer things that do more. Not just to cut the clutter, but also to live life to the fullest, without cupboards full of things that are destined to break, go out of style or become useless.

Mindmade design.

It is easy to know quality when you see it. You feel it intuitively as well as with your eyes and sense of touch. It takes a lot of human effort and thought to create an object of quality that survives the test of time. It is only knowledge of the material, production methods and end user insight that creates truly inclusive design objects that serve the individual human needs. Iittala calls it mindmade design. Design created by the experienced minds of craftsmen and designers against throwawayism.

Modern essentials.

Teema is a range of 21st century design objects created by Kaj Franck in the 1950s. They represent the essential design thought at the heart of the Iittala collection. The idea is simple – find the object’s simplest form so it can fulfil more functions to be combined in the right way for each occasion. Teema serves every need, from preparing to serving.

Based on bold, geometric forms, every piece is part of a larger thought-through system where everything fits with everything. Every new design object complements the ones that come before and after, in design as well as colour, to offer the highest quality combinable, multi-purpose tools for an active and modern life.

Life changes, Iittala stays. Iittala’s lasting everyday design is not only flexible in use and style, but also durable. Craftsmanship at every stage of production ensures objects of the highest possible quality.

“The choices you make today, shape tomorrow.”

“As consumers, we can make conscious statements by choosing fewer, well-produced objects which are multi-functional. Iittala products never shout. They are quiet, dignified and timeless – very refreshing in an overcrowded world. Each essential object is an intrinsic part of our lives, and part of a larger family designed with thought, a deep knowledge of craftsmanship and our human needs in focus. Lasting design is the result of this process. Of course, everything can be thrown away, or at best be recycled, it’s the cycle of life. But essential design slows down this process.”

Chrystina Schmidt – Co founder and partner of Skandium, London.

Sustainability

work

with context having context Kevin Low - architect

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Sustainable design is for me much about working with ideas

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– intellectually

Peter Andersson - designer

Q&A Questions and Answers to Iittala’s core message, to take a stand ‘Against Throwawayism’ = to be committed to lasting design’

Q: What do you mean when you say you are ‘against throwawayism”I? A: We are talking about the brand’s core philosophy: we believe in the creation and use of lasting everyday design, and are against disposability and producing mountains of things just to be thrown away. All of us can play a part here in making choices to help build a more lasting future and society.

Choosing quality products that have been designed to last is a choice for a more sustainable society.

The core of this philosophy is based on the early thinking of Kaj Franck, who believed that objects should always be appropriate, durable, and functional. This is also why we believe that one of the most important functions of design is to ensure that items designed for everyday use should be universally usable.

All the products in the Iittala range, whatever they are made of, are designed to be timeless, easy to combine with each other, and versatile. Just as in the case of Franck’s Teema collection, which was created over 50 years ago and is still as dynamic today as it was back when it was created.

Q: Are all Iittala objects developed and produced according to this principle?

A: All items in the Iittala product range are designed to be functional, combinable, and versatile, regardless of the material in question. The Iittala design philosophy defines the principles of our product development.

These principles include, in addition to pure functionalism, the qualities of adding something essential and emotional to life, to ensure that all our products are highly usable and that their design, in terms of beauty and form, is for the long term. By creating ‘lasting everyday design’, we mean creating relevant design that is also contemporary and that responds meaningfully to universal human needs.

Q: How can you delist some products/sizes/colours and say that you are not encouraging people to throw things away?

A: Design lies at the heart of the Iittala philosophy.

It is in the natural flow of things that nothing will last forever; things can break or colours/shapes/ sizes in the range can change over time. What is important is that all Iittala products are designed to be combined with each other, which means that, even when a colour or a particular item or size is no longer available, all our products will still work with other Iittala products from yesterday and tomorrow. This enables people to build and update their personal Iittala collection over time.

All products cannot always be available, and demand guides us in deciding what is included in the overall Iittala range today. Our distribution channels also react to demand levels when making decisions about delisting products, and have only limited space to stock our wide and growing range. Ultimately, it is consumers who decide which products are in demand and which not.

Design products that are delisted, for whatever reason, still remain classics and quality products that can complement other Iittala pieces or be passed on to someone who collects classics. These designs do not lose their value, they remain as viable as ever in terms of their purpose and quality.

Q: Why do you launch new products then?

Shouldn’t your existing products be enough if they are made to last?

A: We need, first and foremost, to meet the requirements of consumers with high-quality de-

sign products that embody our principle of lasting design. This means that we at Iittala are committed to creating relevant and contemporary design that responds to universal human needs.

As the leading Scandinavian design company, we have a responsibility to develop new design icons – and you cannot produce new icons if you do not launch new products. By launching new designs, we can also give new relevance to classic designs.

A good example of this is the recently introduced Taika range, which refreshes and complements the classic Teema collection.

When we launch new products, we research today’s consumer needs and how to best meet them. As the Iittala philosophy also contains the idea of ‘doing more with less’, we cannot always extend our range, but we need to ensure that the decisions we make are based on consumer needs and support our main philosophy in the best possible way.

Delisting decisions are always harder to make than those to launch a new product, and we put a lot of careful thought into taking them.

Q: When you talk about lasting design, what is your environmental policy? How do you take consumption into account?

A: As a company, we want to promote enlightened consumption by making products that are of a high technical design and timeless in nature. Products with a long lifecycle are better for the environment than cheaper products with a short life span. We also have environmental policies covering all our production facilities, and protecting the environment is an important value for us.

See the Iittala environmental policy statement at the end of this document for more information here.

NOTE: When we say that we are ‘against disposability’, we are taking a stand against wasteful consumption.

Studies show that many people today are tired of the mountains of useless products being produced and want more durable products. Our objective is to respond to this by creating functional, well-de-

signed products that are designed to last the test of time. Rather than add to the mountains of waste, we want to improve people’s quality of life – and ensure that every product in the Iittala range embodies the principle of ‘lasting everyday design’.

Q: How do Iittala products embody the idea of lasting, functional design better than others?

A: All Iittala products are created to offer functional solutions to everyday challenges, and all are based on a deep understanding of consumer needs.

All are produced by our designers, craftsmen, and production teams to withstand time and changing needs.

All Iittala products are also designed to be easily combined with each other, to ensure that people can extend their collections with versatile, functional products that complement those they already have, so that people do not feel the need to throw anything away simply because it does not ‘fit’.

Q: But isn’t Iittala interested in selling more products?

A: People will always need products for their everyday life, and Iittala products are designed for those who want to choose durable quality designs. Functionality and quality are more important for many people than simply a low price. In today’s fast-moving consumer society, there is a need for products that are made to last throughout a person’s life.

That is why all Iittala products are designed to be easily combinable and long-lasting.

Q: Do you have the approval of designers such as Kaj Franck and Alvar Aalto or others when you make changes to their classic designs?

A: Kaj Franck designed his Teema range for everyday needs and everyday use in the 1950s and reviewed the range in 1981, changing some measurements, angles, and sizes to ensure that they better matched current needs. Oiva Toikka and Heikki Orvola did a follow-up review in 2005. Oiva Toikka shared a studio with Franck for years and has been

officially nominated to manage Kaj Franck’s design heritage. Heikki Orvola was a student of Franck’s.

Both have a deep respect for Franck’s original design concepts and are dedicated to see that his designs continue to be as dynamic as they have always been.

The Alvar Aalto Foundation approves all Iittala products carrying Aalto’s name, and Iittala works closely with the Foundation. Iittala is the owner of the Aalto registered trademark, while the Alvar Aalto Foundation owns the copyright and supervises the use of the design heritage. All decisions made to classic designs are always made in line with the designers’ original vision and respect their design heritage.

Q: You talk a lot about craftsmanship, but is everything in the Iittala collection produced by hand or craftsmen?

A: When we talk about craftsmanship, we refer to the extensive knowledge we possess in areas such as materials, production techniques (colour expertise, for example), design, understanding consumer needs, etc. Many of our iconic products, such as the Aalto vases and the Birds collections, are produced by hand. Although machine-made, many other products in our range draw on our extensive craftsmanship knowledge in different phases of their product development and design process, to ensure that they are worthy of carrying the Iittala name.

Q: Where are Iittala products manufactured?

A: Iittala products are manufactured both at our own production facilities and by our contract partners. The balance between in-house production and outsourcing varies significantly from product to product, depending on the items and raw materials in question.

Over 70% of all Iittala Group products are manufactured in the Scandinavian countries, where we have our glass, porcelain, and cookware plants [7 in total, 6 from 2008].

Q: What is the role of in-house production in the Iittala strategy?

A: All Iittala production plants need to be internationally competitive, this is a necessity on today’s market.

In-house production focuses on products and materials in which the Iittala Group possesses technical or other special expertise. Our own production facilities are also close to our key markets, which gives us valuable flexibility when producing short runs of products featuring seasonal colours, for example. As we are committed to producing less products for stock and relying more on demand forecasts, it is important that we can produce smaller quantities quickly and efficiently.

When we compare in-house production to outsourced production, we also need to include all the costs associated with outsourced production, not just cost per item, such as higher storage costs due to large order batches, transportation, product loss, etc. Thanks to our own production facilities, Iittala is able to work closely with designers in the product development area and develop new technical innovations.

Q: How large a part of your production at the moment is made in-house and how much is outsourced? How do you anticipate the situation changing in the near future?

A: Over 70% of the Iittala Group’s products in terms of net sales are produced in-house.

Contract manufacturers are selected on the basis of the quality of their products and operations, cost, reliability, and environmental and social responsibility. The goal is to build long-term supplier relationships. As Iittala products are known for their high quality, the production and quality of outsourced products is monitored closely on a regular basis.

Contract manufacturers bring us additional capacity and production flexibility, particularly to meet peak seasonal demand. They also give us an opportunity to use materials for which we do not have our own in-house technology.

Q: How can you survive in the price competition between branded goods and retailers’ own brands?

Will this not lead to lower quality or design in some areas?

A: We know that people value high quality and good design to a growing extent, and are also willing to pay for the added value that a brand like Iittala can offer. We can offer consumers products that represent lasting and durable values. We are also very proud of our history, which dates back to 1881, when the Iittala glass factory was founded.

We know from long experience that the work put into designing quality products will pay itself back in the long term. Quality is something that can always be recognised. This is why the Iittala philosophy is based on the concept of lasting, quality design, produced by talented craftsmen and designers. This is a decisive, differentiating factor for the Iittala brand, and one that we know will be echoed by likeminded people all over the world.

By Johanna Kesti 10.10.2007

The Iittala brand will focus increasingly on taking brand advertising and communication to a higher, more value-added level in 2008. The main brand message will be crystallised in the philosophy: ‘Lasting Everyday Design Against Throwawayism’. This Q&A has been created to clarify what we mean by this and outline our basic thinking on the subject, and indicate how to respond to possible consumer questions.

When needed, additional information can be provided by the Iittala brand team (Johanna Kesti), the range team (Christel Vaenerberg), and the PR team (Tuija Aalto-Setälä).

”

... It is stating the blindingly obvious!

Nature consists of millions of years of collected design knowledge

”

– it would be stupid to ignore it and suicidal to kill it..............

Anders Breitholtz - material and production techniques

Sustainable Design

–

several ” creation which enables

possible outcomes.

Björn Jeffery - web strategy

�

Sustainable design

is when we

combine understanding of individual need and

function with the need for

�

a desirable development

Marcus Wendin - environmental management

I demand the consumers to start act actively and choose quality with,

of course, a bit higher price instead of getting all watery about all this cheap things that surrounds us with fantastic subhumanly low prices, quality

is

�

sustainable in itself, after 1 comes 2 etc

Maxjenny Forslund - fashion designer and producer

Sustainable design is the opposite of the three fundamentals of crap-culture; reproduction, reconsumtion and recycling, sustainable design is not only something that lasts it´s also something you keep for your life.

Mats Theselius - designer

�

Sustainability demands

forward-looking

thinking, caring and boldness.

�

Agneta Hahne - architect

Sustainability is knowledge – and knowledge is king Following the roundtable discussions at Designboost 2007. Goodmorning Technology is working with empowering clients to utilize new business parameters and use of design.

Thus, the sustainable product becomes a vessel for teaching the user something new about her world – and that piece of information is forever stored with the user.

People who understand sustainability are able to lead business in new directions. Sustainability is a notion that is political, marketdriven and individually responsible at the same time. But more importantly, sustainability is based on knowledge.

Marketeers sometimes call this ”the learning brand”. Scholars call it ”education”. Designers call it ”design” (huh!). It is a very powerful way of communication with your audience – maybe the strongest way of communication at all. But there is also a high risk involved – if your product does not deliver on the aspects of sustainability, it will fail – and your product become a lie.

Products that are sustainable shine knowledge.

Knowledge pours out of packaging, knowledge radiates in the hands of the user. That is because it takes a lot of knowledge to make a truly sustainable product. And in order to communicate such a product, the user is required also to know about sustainability. Or rather, the product has to learn the user what sustainability really is, how complex it really is, and how to make a difference in this complex world we share.

Before getting involved in sustainability it is mandatory that your organization is aware on which paths to follow, and which beliefs you have on working with sustainability. only then can you start sharing your knowledge. The conversation is worth having, since sustainability will – and should – be an important business parameter for all your products.

Frederik Andersen – Partner, industrial designer Goodmorning Technology

Design with

multi-layered meanings, spiritual as well as

functional, taste better

will always than the fickle diet of temporary design buzzwords ser ved in this ’Fast Design Nation’

�

Sanna Sevika Hansson - visual artist/designer/corporate design consultant

We have a

”

responsibillity to make active choises as designers.

If we don’t, who does?

Charlotte Sörensen - designer and president/DISK

”

�

The future of design lies

Stephen Burks - designer

a positive

to the transformation of

in it’s ability to make

contribution

�

economies in the developing world

A complex

connection between

consumer values and

�

material culture.

Ida Hult - ethnographer

Sustainable design in the shape of ancient signs with the future ahead of them.

The question is if the letter is not the most democratic of all of mans inventions.

My letters are yours. The letters you use are the exact same as the ones I use.

The letters you are now reading are the same kind of the letters as your friends – and foes – use daily.

The letters belong to all of us, yet they belong to no one.

Our letters are not numerous, 27, 28 or 29 depending on which language you’re expressing yourself in. So few, and yet many enough for you to express your innermost feelings in writing.

It may be an opinionated text for the letters to the editor column of your local newspaper, thoughts drafted for the benefit of future family, words from your heart, meant only for your private diary, an appeal or a cry for help from the world around one, or simply notes to self: Milk, cheese, toilet paper, eggs, hard bread. The letters come in handy then too.

Thanks for the word. But without the letters the word couldn’t take shape. Hadn’t been visible, not been free for each and everyone to interpret.

Thanks and praise to these free words which,

without the letters, could not be printed.

A-Ö, are unusually well functioning visual battons, as made to spread thoughts, research results and the word of mouth - from generation to generation, in the shape of the written word.

Messages that for thousands of years has been preserved and has developed with the help of letters, perhaps our most timeless textbook case of sustainable design.

In journals and books you meet the letters in print, ”flat”, or two dimensional. Here however I have let the letter take a three dimensional shape,

transformed the otherwise flat signs inte sculptures.

You cannot only see their outer shapes but also look into the signs. Look far into the corners of the letter, just as if you had X-ray vision.

Imagine if you with the same eyes could look not just at the letter but also at the human. Could see not just the outer shapes, but also her inner qualities.

HC Ericson – HCE is a professor in graphic design and also the creator of the 3-dimensional and designpatent alphabet ABCHCE.

Sustainable design is a democratic thought which means a sustainable society with equal opportunity and participation for all people.

Kristina Sahlqvist - lector/HDK

Sustainable design........................

“Every design ought to be Sustainable design, meaning something people refuse to trash.”

“One could talk a lot about the ecological side of design therefore sustainable design and one must not forget it’s a political issue. But I would argue whatever we produce it pollutes our environment in one-way or the other. So for me, real sustainable design is the design that people will cherish and keep it for generations to generations.”

“Sustainable design is the one that is appropriate design; keepingvery many issues in view and addressing those issues in the best possible way in a given situation. I really hope this doesn’t become another buzz word.”

Satyendra Pakhale – Cultural nomad and designer

If you can

imagine living with something

all your life – it is sustainable design!

Ann Wåhlström - designer

”

Timelessness You will find it in reports from design and furniture exhibitions, in descriptions in shop catalogues, in articles in professional as well as popular magazines: the timeless object. There appears however to be little accord on meaning. An article in Blueprint a few years ago featured the new library in Alexandria and the Norwegian architects behind, Snohetta and described them as having ‘an elemental empathy with their surroundings’, which is explained as ‘their designs connection with the earth’. This, claims the author of the article, is what makes ‘the vastly overused’ word timelessness suitable to describe the quality of their buildings: connection with the earth has replaced ‘anything so superficial as styling’. This description made a friend of mine reflect: he would not interpret timeless this way and would moreover suggest the work of Snohetta as rather being contemporary, creative and futuristic.

Not only is it obvious that there are numerous everyday interpretations of timeless, but the phenomenon has moreover important connotations beyond its popular meaning. Although philosophical, timelessness is frequently applied to objects: there are various suggestions concerning the properties of a timeless object in literature and popular publications, but there is no apparent unanimity on how to realise these characteristics.

The approach to sustainable development has broadened, but the impact of the immaterial properties of objects needs to be further explored.

What makes some objects retain their significance over time and in a changing human context?

Analyses of literature makes it evident that the discourse on sustainability, including system thinking, has an apparent focus on material characteristics, though there is nothing implicating opposition to

an expanded view comprising immateriality! On the other hand, there are indications that the ambiguity of timelessness and related notions, including how the judgment is formed, causes confusion for designers pursuing longevity in objects. It is thus time to address this ambiguity and introduce directions, which would allow designers to consider the immaterial qualities of objects when designing and thereby promote a more profound holistic approach to sustainability and sustainable design.

In my doctoral research, I took on the challenge trying to formulate well-founded directions.

My thesis embarked on a deconstruction of timelessness, resulting in the phenomenon being conceptualised as affective sustainability, and subsequently explored through three applications.

These initiated new lines of inquiry and allowed for the thesis to summarise the key findings of the research.

The study concludes that affective sustainability is considered to be a lived experience. Re-considering sustainability and rethinking time, tradition, aesthetics and perception facilitate comprehension of affectively sustainable objects: a designer has to use intuitive judgements but to reach beyond the personal these have to be balanced by the verbal visualisation of thoughts and the study of un-reflected human behaviour outside laboratory settings.

My emphasis on the unconscious and un-reflected needs some further explanation. It is well-known that people unconsciously use metaphors to express their wishes: a ‘wooden gate’ might well be a way of saying ‘a welcoming gate’. IKEA experienced this in their Bo-Klok project, which stirred confusion. The fact that we also behave differently and very reflected in artificial settings,

– what does it really mean? like when we participate in experiments and surveys, is causing flaw when it comes to the interpretation of the results of these investigations.

Most of our everyday acts are more thoughtless than we normally consider and the objects that surround us ought consequently to be designed for these acts rather than to extrapolate those we perform in less natural settings. These findings are as such not very surprising, but they do set limits to some of the recent ways of designing for durable attachment: i.e. user-centred and participatory design s well s personalised products.

Emotionally durable design and the design of pleasurable products are both aims to go beyond environmentalism and point to other components as vital for sustainable design. With hindsight and closer analysis neither of these approaches escapes the problem of risking sustaining the unsustainable. Emotions are reflected, they have an apparent cognitive component, pairing the affective and the motor, and are thus susceptible to rapid change. Furthermore, to judge which pleasures will give long-lasting satisfaction has always been a challenging task as they in turn are influenced by fashion: they are not necessarily responding to well-being but rather to desires and well-living, which are to be found well outside Maslow’s need pyramid.

The good news is that these different approaches stand for recognition of individual well-being as a precondition for sustainable design, it has become more human-centred than eco-centred.

Early approaches suggested that sustainable design as such gave satisfaction to the user: knowing that a product did not contribute to mismanagement of the world’s resources made it automatically beautiful. I am

not suggesting that these types of products do not induce a sensation of ‘I feel good’, but this does not warrant how long this feeling will last.

We have a tendency to shelf products, more or less consciously, if they do not care for us in the meaning of adding something positive to our life beyond reflection.

The approach, which currently comes closest to a holistic approach, is co-design as it comprises economic, environmental, socio-cultural and individual forms of well-being. Unfortunately, the crucial role of the affective is very little explored in current models, neither what concerns the individual or the interaction within the system.

We will continue to use, or even overuse, the expression timeless, ask for timelessness in design and mean different things: simplicity, a certain style, particular forms, in harmony with nature and surroundings and more. We will not necessarily imply that we personally would like to live with this object ‘forever’ or see it being around ‘eternally’.

Moreover, by denominating an object timeless we are not saying that this object cares for us, adds to our individual well-being or that we feel attach to it.

On the other hand we might mean just this if the object also is affectively sustainable!

Kristina Börjesson – PhD, Research Associate Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design References: Börjesson, I.K.B. (2006) The Affective Sustainability of Objects; a search for causal connections. PhD thesis. The University of the Arts London.

Chapman, J. (2005) Emotionally Durable Design. Objects, Experiences & Empathy.

London: Earthscan Chapman, J. & Gant, N. (2007) Designers, Visionaries + Other Stories. A collection of sustainable design essays. London: Earthscan.

Datschefski, E. (2001) The Total Beauty of Sustainable Products. Hove: RotoVision.

Dunn, K. (2004) Northern exposure – Company Town. Blueprint, No 216, pp.49-51.

Fulton Suri, J. (2005) Thoughtless Acts. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Jordan, P.W. (2000) Designing Pleasurable Products. London: Taylor & Francis.

Wilson, T.D. (2002) Strangers to Ourselves. Discovering the Adaptive UnconsciousCambridge, MA: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.

”

Sustainable design – products and services designed, produced and sold in a way that creates a better world worth living in” Kajsa Bengtsson - PR manager and business coach/Minc

”

There is no business to be done on a dead planet” Jonas Pinzke - brand experience

”

Can we do this indefinetly ?”

Olof Kolte - lecturer/LTH

Is there an option?”

Stefan Fallgren - design coordinator/Region Skåne

”

WHAT ROLE HAS DESIGN PLAYED IN WHERE HUMANITY IS TODAY? SOURCE my daughter, who is 4 and a half years old, can already recognize hundreds of brands. but she doesn’t know that water comes from the sky, unless it rains. and she doesn’t know that it comes from the ground, even when it forms a stream.... she is only four years old, so she thinks water comes from supermarkets........ she thinks that it comes in bottles. with some embarrassment I have to tell her that this is not entirely true. so to teach my daughter about where water comes from, we went high into the mountains. we walked along streams with river beds made from black rocks while angry dark grey clouds rained on our heads...... we saw dark holes from which fresh water sprang, drilled deep into the earth..... this was very curios, but very mysterious for her – so she still thinks that water comes from the supermarket. with some embarrassment I have to tell her that this is not true.

I have been reflecting lately on 20 years ago or so, when a major discussion amongst designers was something like this; ‘design must reach into every aspect of life, everything must be designed, design must be everywhere’........

But now that ‘Design Is Everywhere, For Everybody, All The Time’, I would like to ask if our condition is better or worse than 20 years ago? Are there examples or regions in the world where ‘design’ has produced a better society, and others where ‘design’ has done little more than polluting the social or eco-system? What role has design played in where humanity is today?

I’ve got a few thoughts to share, and would love to hear yours.....

”

Sustainable design is the responsible use of resources – the pleasure of simplicity and walking lightly on the land.

Tim Power - architect

”

”

The Sustainability Way

Rules erode!

”

– all and everything else will

Claes Foxerus - design management

A unique attribute to design as a development strategy is not to create desirability, but the attempt to sustain this desirability with time.

Good design is sustainable per se

Jens Martin Skibsted - ideation and innovation

�

�

The sustainability

cultural

amidst the of

modern Kristina Dryza - trend forecaster

of

heritage

backdrop global change and

life�

[Introduction sustainable innovation]

Food for Thought We are making progress. Raw materials do no longer have to become depleted. Great opportunities for renewable materials are opening up, provided we are smart enough to recognize the chances. A Chinese car made of bamboo? The idea may sound a bit weird, but technically, it is definitely possible.

The material can be reused once the car has mechanically broken down. The key issue is in which ways the innovative use of existing materials should be able to contribute effectively to a more sustainable society. What developments in the field of material innovation seem to become the directional trend for the future?

The new ecomaterials comprise various development processes. Biocomposites, such as the combination of biopolymers (PLA) with natural fibres, will in time be able to replace synthetic polymers. Other developments concern extremely strong lightweight materials that can be used for industrial products and means of conveyance, such as aluminium sandwich panels, extremely sustainable synthetic composites, and technical ceramics.

The production of these materials requires much energy but measured throughout their entire life cycle they can save huge amounts of energy.

There are great opportunities for renewable materials containing non-wood natural fibres.

Products such as MeadowBoard TM, Pacificboard, Shortstraw, Heraflax, Thermo-Hanf, Cantiva, all made of ordinary grasses, wheat, flax, or hemp, are like hidden powers winning ground slowly but surely. These materials have a broad range of potential applications in buildings, furniture, and fashion.

And what’s more, the raw materials are available in Europe, which means a reduction of the transport costs and higher proceeds for the growers, who are already working under great pressure as it is.

Natural materials from so-called renewable resources such as flax, hemp, wood, cotton, and potatoes have the capacity to be replenished through natural processes such as sun and water, producing new plants that can absorb CO2, hence the term ‘renewable’. The advantage of these materials is that they do not contain fossil (petroleum-based) resources. By the combustion of fossil materials, CO2 (carbon dioxide) is released, one of the gasses that cause the greenhouse effect. The burning of renewable resources also emits certain amounts of CO2, but this is the gas absorbed at

an earlier stage from the air by plants. The basic components are (plant) proteins, fibres, starch, oil, and oil derivatives such as bioethanol and additives such as plasticizers, flame retardants, and chemical aroma compounds.

The results of material innovation are already noticeable close to home. Since 2005, the leading chain of Dutch supermarkets Albert Heijn, has been packing all biological non-cooled potatoes, vegetables, and fruit in crackling bioplastics made from potato starch.

A special logo points out to the consumers that the packaging is biodegradable and can therefore be dumped in the vegetable, fruit and garden waste bin. An additional advantage is that the packaging is breathing, which keeps the products fresh for a longer period. After a trial period, the largest bread producer in the Netherlands (with a market share of ten percent) will soon start using biodegradable window bread bags on a large scale.

stress due to nitrogen shortage a substance that can be used for the production of plastic. Metabolix reduces our dependence on fossil resources. And that is a hot issue in our day and age when oil prices keep soaring and we just have to wait and see what the oil-producing countries are going to do about it.

The trade association of producers of bioplastics has for a year now carried out a market introduction project with support from the Senternovem Unique Opportunities Regulation. Corn cups were introduced at a number of large pop festivals: transparent plastic cups made from polylactid acid derived from agricultural products. These cups do not break and are therefore just what the concertgoers want: sustainable glasses.

Some developments are in fact old history. Out of sheer necessity, the value and suitability of materials that have been available to us for a very long time are emphasized. Now we have the knowledge to adjust these materials to the current standards.

Take for instance the comeback of nettle cloth in the 21st century: the alternative (for it is equally strong) to cotton, linen, and silk, insulating and breathing to boot because of the stinging nettle’s hollow fibres. As early as the Middle Ages, the elite preferred nettle cloth to silk.

One of the most recent inventions is Metabolix.

This microbe produces in its cell wall in times of

Part of the challenge lies in enhancing the acceptance of innovative materials among the public at

large. This also involves the introduction of new aesthetic norms and values, with probably a trendsetting role for large international brands such as H&M, which has launched a collection featuring (once again) T-shirts made of biological cotton. The fact that frequent objections have been made to the higher costs involved may in this respect form a stumbling block. The costs are indeed higher in the short term, but when we are called to account for the costs of the greenhouse effect (aridity, sea level rise) the decision is made soon enough. For this to happen, however, we need a social, cultural, institutional, and political basis.

This basis has been enlarged considerably by the impact of Al Gore’s recent film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. The most important task for the coming years is to remove social and emotional impediments. Now that even cities compete for the lowest ecological footprint, the moment seems to have come for a change, also in legislation and regulations. The fact that in the USA and Europe between

eighty to one hundred kilos of plastic are annually used per head of the population makes it abundantly clear that this a matter of great urgency. The use of plastic in China and India, together forming one-third of the world population, is currently five to ten kilos per year. The growth of prosperity in these countries will undoubtedly lead to an increased need for raw materials.

The automobile industry, one of the sectors that need large quantities of raw materials, can easily apply much larger quantities of renewable materials. Cars made of sheet material based on sunflowers and hemp in France, rattan in Malaysia, wheat in the USA, or bamboo in China. It is all feasible.

What we now need is the drive to make use of all technical opportunities.

Natascha Drabbe is an architectural historian and expert on design with a specialization in sustainable design. She was the organizer of the travelling exhibition Re-f-use: sustainable design. See alsi ndcc.nl and re-f-use.com.

�

To make products environmentally sustainable they need to be both emotionally sustainable (appealing over time) and not be limited to not harm the environment but try to benefit the environment

Joakim NorĂŠn - trend research

”

Love & lights Spirit of Maya wants to inspire individuals to a holistic approach towards consumtion.

Understanding of fashion and design as a mean to spread a massage and an attitude. Spirit of Maya adress individuals who wants to care for their inner beauty. Take possition and show a responsibility for consumtion.

Spirit of Maya is constantly seeking to find the best materials and to ensure that the production is of highest possible moral.

Therefor we among other things use a cotton fiber called Colorganic, a natural coloured and ecological cotton fiber.

In hinduism the name Maya means illusion. Spirit of Maya interprets that as what we wear is the illusion behind the human, who is the truth.

”

The ultimate

in sustainable design are products etc...

– with a quality that makes you want to

keep them

fore Mårten Knutsson - communication

� ver.

�

?

Is economy of scale one of the biggest disasters for the planet

Steuart Padwick - founder Designbar

The real deal ”What business needs to know about the trend “authenticity” Designers and product developers spend too much time producing items they think people want instead of what people need. Stop designing for your own sake. Good design works for people. Great design connects with them. You need to know how your audience generates meaning in their everyday lives.

That in the era when everyone creates and communicates and the eternal is long gone.

We live in a world of staged experiences. Our interaction is more and more mediated by technology.

Our confidence in major social institutions has eroded and no meta story is still going strong creating an ever-growing perception of how “society” runs afoul of its purpose. We get lonely, distrustful and detect fakeness everywhere.

Lately however, the term authenticity seems to be resurfacing in the business community lingua.

In this article we dissect this trend. As consumers increasingly look for something ‘real’ not fake, authenticity becomes a competitive advantage and a new business imperative. Is it possible to manage the value perception of authenticity? Is authenticity even up for creation?

Drivers for increased demand In a society where speed of consumption is prioritized before sustainability critical voices are raised. More and more consumers with critical minds

buy-cott rather than boycott. The demand for the sustainable increases as energy prizes are on the rise and the climate change becomes evident for

”

Sustainable design gives an authentic value to the consumer” Katarina Graffman – ethnographer

all in the global village. Everything that damages our planet is regarded as un-authentic. The great challenge is to develop new ways for us to live accordingly. Undermining mankind’s way of life is no solution. It’s hard telling if it is the concern for the environment, for future generations, for health, happiness or the personal finances that drives the trend forward. The effect however is pointing in one direction only: a booming market for sustainable design. The authenticity trend opens more doors for sustainable design yet sustainability only holds one definition of authentic value. Authenticity always runs the risk of waxing nostalgic. But the trend is not about longingly looking back but moving forward in new ways. So how will the trend authenticity affect the future? What does it stand for?

When talking about the authentic many mix it with the notion of ‘the real’. The term real however is more superficial, a term without soul. The ‘real’ can be defined as follows: 1. Social constructions of the ’real’, mainly constructed by media and different power structures.

2. Someone standing as a guarantee for the ‘real’, maybe a chef at a restaurant, a TV host, a politician or maybe a designer. ‘Real’ people is people with an authentic vibe.

3. The created ’real’, mostly brands or communication. The created can be ‘real real’ or ‘fake real’ and is context dependent.

Authenticity carries more complex connotations than the word ‘real’.

An authentic feeling or experience symbolizes inner harmony and emotional satisfaction. The definition of authenticity may include consumers concern about the ethical and honest behaviour of companies, i.e CSR. It also contains the urgent need for the natural, the simple, the local and the sustainable. Unspun communication and the longing for stories and histories are factors that tie in with an urge for the imperfect three-dimensional. The authenticity-strive is mainly an effect of the things we miss in modern society.

Modern life: Project Identity Simply stated: modernity is about trusting what we create, not what we become heir to. In modern life identity is something we create, not something we inherit. As time changes faster our concepts of self is liberated from origin, place and history. We identify ourselves less from goods produced and more with items consumed. As anthropologist Mikael Kurkiala says: “Our Gods are permitted, our rites forgotten, our myths replaced with docusoaps”.

The famous sociologist Zygmunt Bauman states that we feel alone as we experience the dismantling of unity and eternity. The sustainable and the eter-

nal is long gone in the modern project even though it used to be mankind’s earlier strive for meaning.

Back then, we believed that our short time here on earth would be prolonged for eternity within a higher power. Today, life is just s short series of non-consistent moments. Nations are experienced as unstable and constructed. Companies and product exist for shorter amount of time. Trends shift faster. Brands change as often as consumer changes underwear.

It’s your personal resume that matters, not how you act in society or treat your neighbour. ”People no longer have a sense of a higher purpose, of something worth dying for”, according to the philosopher Charles Tyler. People focus on their own perfect life resulting in serious meaning-shortage. No wonder compassion and social interest decreases.

’Real’ or authentic people In modern society young people build upon brands to create identity. The range of brands used for the identity projects stretch from global giants like Nike and Converse to smaller local brands like Cheap Monday and Odd Molly. Identity by branding is more connected with the “real” than with the “authenticity” issue.

The authentic mind shy away from brands since they want to build identity on loose parts rather than comply with items and emblems already charged with meanings. Brands are thought about like constructed shortcuts, i.e. fake. To build a trustworthy brand a company needs to already be looked upon as solid by their target audience.

Today branding is having a social mission, actually do something. Basically all advertising focus on what they want to say instead of communicating a feeling. Everything needs to go together: the story behind the product, the design of it and the company overall picture.

The creation of an authentic self is about defining oneself differently.

As media, advertising and brands build images of who the consumer wants to be and what to buy accordingly, other channels for identity input turn significant. The drive for authenticity is something deeper than buying ’real’ brands, it’s about values and ethical standpoints. The inner-directed people are growing in numbers in the modern world. This authenticity driven movement influence the market in new ways.

The converted no-frills chic More often than not, the authentic is about the emotional. The authentic food we are eating does not have to be luxurious to be experienced as authentic whereas goods that used to be deluxe and a treat for few becomes more common. Today the prize gap narrows and there is a wider range of choices. The currency is not always money but time, experiences and emotions as well.

The longing for authentic things, people and experiences are on the rise which results in polarization between the authentic and the fake. The split is connected to the currency used which varies with situation.

A consumer is willing to pay for authenticity in one moment but not in another. The rational mind, the economical side, goes for the most financially pleasing, especially if the quality is almost the same.

Consumers that are well off tend to go for the more authentic alternative. But, in other situations even people with less means go for something that feels authentic because “they’re worth it”.

The beautiful and fair for example creates values that increase meaningfulness. Beauty is an important part of authenticity since it charges places and situations with that special one-of-a-kind-feel, uniqueness. The architect in charge for British Government’s Urban Task Force, was constantly advised to leave out words like beautiful and

harmonic in sketches and descriptions. They wanted to use the more objective term ‘good design’. But really, a building without beauty is a construction in the same way as music without beauty is just a noise. Beauty cannot be measured and is therefore difficult to value. Beauty is subjective and difficult to deliver with return policy.

The authenticity split will remain; polarizing consumer behaviors due to context. It is evident that you either go for quality or mass production; you go for soul or the general idea. For example; when it comes to food one either chooses ecological or locally produced or cheap canned good without story or localization. It’s a logical process depending on what currency you use in that certain moment. More irrational is the behavior around and close to the authentic. You fly to Copenhagen to buy designer shoes designed in an environment friendly process.

The emotional and the rational are both drivers of consumption – the context is king.

and social white spaces- authenticity will crystallize itself. Since the concept is always on the move it is not useful to define authentic occasions or products because that will change in a split second.

The most important thing for those who want to act authentic is to define what authenticity means in different consumer groups or in different places.

With that knowledge it is possible to connect to the emotional forces in the consumers mind and build a long and sustainable relationship.

Ethnography and design Design research at its best helps designers to create landscapes of possibility for social life, not products for users. Building ethnography into the design process is about making useful things no one knew they needed. Ethnography informs design by revealing how people make sense of their world. For a long time design research was twisted towards usability testing. Nowadays the appeal of ethnography to design is the recognition and appreciation of the social circumstances in which products are deployed.

Constants and breaking points The conception of authenticity is ever changing and moving. It has become the modern kaleidoscope constantly creating new patterns. But as well as the kaleidoscope only works within its frames so does authenticity define itself toward the constant commercialism.

The commercial is experienced as fake whereas non-commercial activities are regarded authentic.

Just look at the different connotations carried by Christmas sale and Christmas market or by Liquor store and Winery Boutique. All of these are places that include commerce but one is personalized and authentic the other is fake and anonymous. In other words: much more important than defining the authentic is to find the breaking point. This is the key – once you locate these points of cultural

Authenticity should be claimed as the purview of innovation. Innovation requires exploring outside of our personal habits and values with the most important approach being the flipping around exploring from the other’s point of view. Go native, as anthropologists say. Authenticity is not about managing perception; it’s about engaging in the pursuit of it. Design is problem solving, but the problem always comes in a context. Go native!

By: Katarina Graffman, Ph.D. Anthropology, founder of Trendethnography Ida Hult, Ma. Ethnology, founder of Trendethnography

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The ability of design to nurture

people, planet � profit and

Sanjoo Malhotra - project manager/business development

.

The vision is that all of our colours will be water solvable.

All paint is made with some kind of solvant who’s function is to make the paint paintable and then evaporate.

The solvant has hence no part in the quality of the remaining paint.

Traditionally most colours have contained organic solvants which are dangerous both to humans and to our environment. Therefor a big part of our environmental work focus on substituting these harmful solvants.

Thanks to persistent product development and new materials we have suceeeded to develop paint that solves with plain water. In 2005 80% of our paints were water solvable. The goal is that 99% of the entire sales will be water solvable by the year 2010.

We work very hard and focused on reducing the environmental influence from our entire company. In our Stockholm factory we have for example improved the environmental issue by eliminating the discharge of naphta aswell as the risque of fire due to firehazardous solvants and the energy consuming air incinerating installation has been has been discontinued.

During the spring of 2006 we decided to move the swedish production from Stockholm to our central warehouse in Nykvarn, just outside of SÜdertälje. We will then be rid of the 4 mile long journey each tin of paint has yet made. We also have a fantastic opportunity to build a modern factory with the best qualities from an environmental aspect. The new factory, which will produce only water solvable paint, is expected to be up and running in 2008.

Quality is alwa

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ys sustainable Thomas Sandell - designer and architect

As we gear up for Designboost in Malmö, the debate over some of the issues to be raised rage on in the blogosphere. At a range of events throughout 2007, the talk has been of an industry on the back foot due to issues including technological acceleration and a new ‘Self-Obsessed Consumer’ who is connected, creative and questioning. With consumers no longer being a captive audience to the world of advertising, we’ve moved from the age of interruption to the age of engagement and from a passive consumer to an active one. It’s generally agreed that a whole new mind-set is therefore needed in the way the marcoms industry creates and develops creative work and how they plan their media, etc.

TV may still be the king of the marketing mix- albeit it in a hugely expensive way - as an infamous ‘marketing factoid’ has it, in the US 20 years ago an advertiser could reach 80% of the population with just three TV commercials; now it would take 150 ads to do the same thing. In our time-poor culture the 30-second ad is still the most intense, multilayered way of telling you about a product; and yes, mass-media will always be with us because shared experience is so fundamentally important. But while the (occasional) standard of advertising may be sky-high, advertising per-se is suffering because of the sheer amount of it, the lack of innovation within traditional advertising formats and the power that

media fragmentation and technology give consumers to tune out the ‘buzz’. Advertising has been reduced – or elevated depending on your point of view – to pure gloss, where image is the only answer in a ‘product-sated society’.

Traditional advertising is therefore a high-risk zone – a swift look at the race by those like Interpublic, Omnicom and WPP etc to grab every possible share of the (still) rapidly growing design, research, guerrilla and digital sectors show us that innovation in all areas of brand communication is the only way forward. It’s in the successful marriage of creativity and technology that the success of future marcoms campaigns will be found, where media and discipline-neutral thinking lead the way.

Meanwhile, client-side marketers are desperate for information on where to gain clear information on (and how to re-connect with) the ‘soul of the new consumer’. So where to turn for inspiration when journalists, financial analysts and shareholders alike point to structural societal issues like situational consumption & hypermobility, and ongoing trends like ‘brands under the spotlight’ the ‘US backlash’ and ‘localisation’ etc and ask ‘so where is your brand connecting?’

The likes of MySpace, Second Life, YouTube, Flickr and Bebo have exploded into the lives of consu-

mers on a global basis, showing that ‘communities of interest’ are THE obsessional talking point in the marketing community today.

One of the major catalytic points for brand development is the overlap where the breakdown of the institutions, the plethora of life choices and the impact of a digitally connected society meet. The marketing of culture and the culture of marketing have long kept academics busy (John Seabrook wrote an excellent book of the same name), but a really interesting issue posed time and again is ‘who owns the brand’?

Consumer power is – finally – a very real fact of life for brand teams and agencies alike where digital marketing, branded content, brand stories, PR, design & word of mouth marketing have linked up to mean that the consumer really is in control. Some shy away from this and recoil when consumers get too close to the gates of the company, but others – particularly media brands – have given as much control over to consumers as possible (i.e consumer generated media and consumer use of existing content as supplied by the BBC) and have benefited massively as a result. The brand, agency and consumer therefore meet where core brand values connect and consumers are only too pleased to link with others via ‘their’ brand and the ‘actual’ brand gains massively as a result.

We’ve heard a lot recently about brands leveraging the power of media via permission based activity.

The old adage that the (increasingly ineffective) interruption based advertising model would change only when consumers had the opportunity to choose when & how to be targeted by advertisers has moved on another step with DIY media, linked with mobile based, instant messaging technology.

Regarding specific ‘routes in’, Tom Himpe identifies four key driving forces to help brands getting closer to the modern consumer in his book ‘Advertising is Dead – Long live Advertising’: 1. Proximity – Basically ‘be personal’ where the medium essentially evaporates and brands either step into the consumers own world i.e. by real-life brandetainment or by inviting consumers into the brands’ own world online.

2. Exclusivity – or ‘Go where the competition isn’t’.

The Holy Grail for marcoms remains an exclusive, uncluttered environement specifically suited to their profile. Yet conventional advertising formats are loud, essentially uncontrolled and over-crowded places. In just the same way that companies pay to be ‘exclusive-sponsors’ of big events, they’re now doing the same with ‘new’ media opportunities.

‘Exclusivity is power’ as they say.

3. Invisibility – or moving the brand to the background. If consumers (via PVR’s or simply the offbutton) are ‘tuning out’ from traditional advertising

because it’s so (literally) predictable, then advertising that works is often advertising that…doesn’t look, sound or appear to be like…advertising.

4. Unpredictability. Catching consumers off guard, using genuinely unpredictable media, leads to interest, interaction and cuts through the potential cynisicsm of jaded consumers.

Whilst specific techniques also identified by him are…

Intrusion

Transformation

Installation

Infiltration

Sensation

Illusion Interaction

The above, of course, can be linked by mobile marketing – which many forecast to overtake online marketing activity, sooner rather than later.

Another issue which really had conference’s talking throughout ’07 has been Chris Anderson’s book ‘The Long Tail’. Real furore surrounded the impact his views of the way mass consumption is generated via digital retail where niche interest items sell to the masses - effectively ‘mass to mass’ rather than ‘small-niche to mass’ as is found in ‘real life’ retailers who depend on the economics of scarcity.

But how do brands target what we’re told are ‘new’

consumer groups? By waking up to a new way of thinking that rejects old-style demographic modelling to a new era where cluster groups can be identified via shared interests, passions and activities – often illustrated via ‘favourites’ on their Mac or PC. Thus all this ‘encouraging’ peer to peer activity via interactive technology engages consumers in ways that marketers of only five years ago would hardly believe.

So - what we’re seeing is a revolution in adland, which is being forced at gunpoint to deal with issues like the rapidly increasing ability of brands to finally communicate effectively via mobile technology, the rise & rise of branded content on TV or via video-games, live event ‘brandetainment’, guerrilla marketing and PR-led campaigns; all are the areas of marketing where the excitement lies, and all are mutating rapidly in an era where ‘brand amplification’ is where it’s at.

The above comms trends all illustrate a move towards building synergies where past consumer/ brand relationships were breaking down, helping brand messages to cut through the clutter of a disrupted and fragmented marketplace where media channels have proliferated beyond anyone’s

expectation. Brands are forcing their agencies to welcome and harness the power of an immersive and engaging media environment to create a world of content that consumers draw on as and when they choose. Not that this means that mainstream marketing is over – far from it – but what a range of keynote thinkers in the industry agree on is that what’s required now more than ever from agencies is a ‘big idea’ to glue all the wildly varying elements of a multi-disciplined campaign together, where what is needed is a big over-arching ‘big ideal’, supported by a brilliantly original, central thought driven through all its communications. These multidisciplined campaigns can include guerrilla, stealth, ambush, buzz, viral, grassroots, wildfire and ambient marketing.

So…what of the future? As Roderick White (editor of Admap) put it when discussing the future of marcoms ‘some issues will run and run – we’ll still be trying to understand consumers better and generate usable insights for marketing, and the input from new sciences and theories will continue to provoke new responses from marketers. At present, neuroscience is leading to frantic re-thinking about how we communicate with consumers, whether as ‘targets’ or as ‘research subjects’. What it also means

is that from a consumer point of view, access to ‘exactly what I want’ content, when it’s wanted and how it’s wanted just got a whole lot easier – putting them very much in a real position of power.

The last 40 years have seen the industrialised world pass though at least two phases of Mary Goodyears’s classic marketing hierarchy sequence, and emerge into a post-modern era in which the old certainties of the advertising business have had to be re-appraised in the face of highly sophisticated consumers and a growing realisation that it really is, in fact, among consumers that the power genuinely lies and where customer-centric marcoms are absolutely vital.

Marketers who ignore this emergent truth do so at their peril. Design has an immensely ever-more important role to play in this brave new world, and and it’ll be cutting edge thinking on these and other emerging issues that we’ll be discussing in Malmö in October!.

See you at the bar…

Sean Pillot de Chenecey

The ’sustainability question’

”

is a profound one - that it’s regularly being asked

on a global basis

makes it of vital interest to anyone

interested in the answer

’Good Business is...Good Business’ ”

Sean Pillot de Chenecey - research and brand development

Sustainability isn’t just one of the questions facing corporations in 2008 – it’s top of the list.

So the DesignBoost conference held in Malmo was an extremely useful (and enjoyable) forum for all concerned. The high levels of debate and discussion generated amongst a range of delegates from throughout Europe, Asia and US resulted in us all returning to our respective countries with new information and ideas to put into practice.

Make sure you attend the next one!

”Sean” sean@captaincrikey.com

Social responsibility

Thule is a company that operates across the globe and increasingly in emerging markets in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. Wherever we go we apply the same Code of Conduct which has been in place since 2004.

The respect for co-workers and the environment is part of the Scandinavian heritage of the company.

Wherever Thule is located we are engaged in the local social life, either through sponsoring of community activities or actively participating in the daily life of the community. For Thule it is the small steps on a daily base that make the difference.

We are also encouraging our managers to actively strive for a balance between work and family. Going on vacation is as important as exercising together with colleagues during working hours or being involved in activities for the kids.

The majority of our operations are dedicated assembly units which means Thule has no heavy industrial process (with the exception of snow chain making) to pay attention to. Workers’ safety is nevertheless a top priority throughout the Group and is continuously reviewed and improved both in self assessments and through internal revisions

Current knowledge on the topic of CO2

CO2 stands for carbon dioxide. This colourless and odourless gas is a natural component of air. Most of the CO2 in the air is produced by humans and the cellular respiration of other living things. A further proportion is produced by the complete combustion of carbon-containing raw materials. The reduction of CO2 emissions is one topic in the current debate on climate protection. The reason for this is that CO2 absorbs part of the heat radiated by the sun, which causes the greenhouse effect and in turn the warming of the earth’s atmosphere.

Facts about CO2 emissions According to the German Institute for Economic Research, around 68 percent of all CO2 emissions in Germany are produced by industry and power stations. Cars are responsible for producing around 12 percent.

During the period from 1990 to 2005, the German automotive industry has succeeded in reducing the CO2 emissions produced by its vehicle range by as much as 25 percent. To reduce emissions even further, the EU currently aspires to introducing an emission threshold of 130 g/km.

CO2 emissions in vehicles The CO2 emissions from vehicles are governed directly by the fuel consumption. Compared with petrol, diesel is slightly more disadvantageous in terms of CO2 emissions. The lower consumption, however, balances this out again. Basically speaking, three factors influence the level of CO2 emissions, these being a driver’s individual style of driving, vehicle technologies and transport systems.

Holistic concept at Audi Vorsprung durch Technik is a commitment. At present, no other automotive manufacturer implements a holistic concept as consistently as Audi. As the pioneer of numerous technologies, Audi represents a clear stance on the topic of CO2. Factual argumentation and responsible, eco-conscious behaviour help promote a sustainable form of mobility.

Environmental protection with a long tradition Environmental protection enjoys a long tradition at Audi. A tradition that we pass on to our customers: with cars that help to protect the environment thanks to their innovative technology. Through economical fuel consumption, a long service life and the use of eco-friendly materials.

Without the customer having to forfeit performance, comfort or safety

an

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Products designed to last, in terms of product quality

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timeless design is not necessarily always what the consumer wants.�

Jens Pamp - design and brand management

Sustainable

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unimaginged creativity

the second revolution.

Christina Cheng - concept development

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design

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Sustainable design should mean a

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Oliver Ike - entrepreneur

Furniture for the digital depot of the Boymans van Beuningen Museum Museum collections sometimes resemble living creatures: they grow. In the new digital depot of the Boymans van Beuningen Museum this is apparent. By means of digital presentations it is possible for visitors to acquaint themselves with the entire museum collection. There is for example a projected digital data cloud, constructed from small balls each representing an object of art. They make the sheer size of the collection palpable. There are also projection screens zooming in on the world behind an object of art.

The six seating elements in the digital depot are designed by Rene Veenhuizen and Tejo Remy. The units invite visitors to sit down, rest or look around. What attracts the attention immediately is that the units are different in size. Starting point for this design was the idea that the museum expanded like a body. Subsequently the idea arose to let the seating units originate through cell division: by means of connecting the same basic element (a tennis ball) over again, the units represent organisms in different stages of growth. Depending on size, the units offer seating capacity from 2 to several visitors.

Although the material has probably never been used for furniture before, it appears to be made for this purpose. The tennis ball not only has an appropriate molecule like shape, it is also soft on the outside. The upholstery of the seating unit is therefore already enclosed in the smallest part of the unit, the ball itself.

Tejo Remy and Rene Veenhuizen were commissioned by among others, Boymans van Beuningen museum, Central Museum in Utrecht, Fondiazione L’ Arte Teseco Pisa, Kossmann and De Jong exhibition architects and De Appel Amsterdam. Their products are included in the collections of Droog Design and Mobach.

The Boymans van Beuningen Museum and Kossmann and De Jong exhibition architects commissioned the furniture for the digital depot.

Tejo Remy en Rene Veenhuizen

”

Hopefully

we will reach a point in the near future when the phrase ’sustainable design’ becomes an unnecessary tautology and all design becomes not only

sustainable society. but also beneficial to

Nick McLean - entrepreneur and photographer

”

In the problem-solving work as a designer I work for solid development by making the right choices of material, high quality in function and expression, the best production pattern to offer a durable product available for many people.

�

Nina Jobs - designer

Create Personal Treasures!

As designers we CAN contribute to a better world! Not only by choosing sustainable materials and production methods, but also by making objects that last - that can stand the ware of the eye and the tooth of time, and that, maybe most important, have a chance of getting close to peoples hearts.

But what will turn an object into something that the beholder tresures and will keep for all times?

My answer is: create personal value, create things that can be unique to its owner, things that can represent memories and feelings, places, persons, things of exceptional beauty, of exceptional craftmanship! Add an unexpected detail that makes people smile, use exceptionally clear and clever solutions, find the humour that cross barriers.

Sustainable - Less, better and closer to the heart. johan@berhin.se

DESIGNBOOST Designboost is a knowledge company that helps companies and organisations to learn more about design in general and sustainable design in particular and how to use it as a competitive weapon and turn it into a business advantage.

Designboost can be seen as a process to create greater competitiveness.

Designboost’s vision is - sharing design knowledge.

Designboost will arrange so people can meet, discuss and challenge the meaning of design, through “boost chats”, “boost talks”, “boost shows” and other media.

Designboost has developed a method define sustainable design in a more profound and holistic manner. The method is called the “Sustainable Wheel”.

During 2008 the “Sustainable Wheel” will be presented as a sustainable design label.

Designboost is as well using the “Sustainable Wheel” as a tool to conceptualize sustainable design and turn it into a competitive edge.

Designboost is furthermore a knowledge tank with a broad network of creative thinkers from all over the world where thoughts on sustainable design and durable development can be debated, exchanged, tried and developed.

Designboost is a fusion of the two words design and boost. Design can help us create a better world. Inspiration, injection or more power – that is the meaning of boost.

Designboost is created by award winning communication strategist Peer Eriksson, founder of the communication agency Peer Communication and international acclaimed design and future strategist David Carlson, founder of David Design and David Report. City of Malmö and Region Skåne are partners.

SHARING DESIGN KNOWLEDGE

Fridhemstorget, 217 53 Malmรถ.

Peer Eriksson, peer@designboost.se 0705-336631 David Carlson, david@designboost.se 0707-982897 www.designboost.se info@designboost.se

www.designboost.se

Partners:

Sponsors: 5 star Above Audi Fälth & Hässler Lars Andersson SAS Radisson Scandvision Sydsvenskan Thule

Schools: 180 Academy Beckmans college of design HDK/School of Design and Crafts Hyper Island K3/Malmö University LTH/Lund University Oslo National Academy of the Arts University college of Borås

Friends: Alcro Artecnica Biomega Brio Disk God el HC Ericson Iittala Iren Kullander/Apple Mater Spirit of Maya Tejo Remy Tom Dixon Råvara Svensk Form Sveriges Designer SVID Swedish design Award

Production: Designboost Text editor: David Carlson Graphic Design: Peer Eriksson Illustrations: Helen Wachtmeister Paper: xxxxx 150g Arctic Paper Jacket: Printing: F채lth&H채ssler,V채rnamo

SHARING DESIGN KNOWLEDGE

First published in Sweden 2008 ISBN xxxxxx

www.designboost.se

Design in a sustainable society Designboost is a fusion of the two words design and boost.

Design can help us create a better world. Inspiration, injection or more power – that is the meaning of boost.

If you put the two together you will get a Designboost.

The vision behind Designboost is to create a platform that gathers people, companies, organisations, institutions and schools that all work with design, in one way or another, on an international level.

We refer to it as – Sharing Design Knowledge.

We can shape our world and create a more sustainable future with the help of design.

We can also use it to make tomorrow’s society. By focusing on design as a mean of competition companies will also be given a chance to create a sustainable world.